² “Oh, that I were as in months ^(A)past,
As in the days when God ^(B)watched over me;
^3 (C)When His lamp shone upon my head,
And when by His light I walked through darkness;
⁴ Just as I was in the days of my prime,
When ^(D)the friendly counsel of God was over my tent;
⁵ When the Almighty was yet with me,
When my children were around me;
⁶ When ^(E)my steps were bathed with ^[a]cream,
And ^(F)the rock poured out rivers of oil for me!

⁷ “When I went out to the gate by the city,
When I took my seat in the open square,
⁸ The young men saw me and hid,
And the aged arose and stood;
⁹ The princes refrained from talking,
And ^(G)put their hand on their mouth;
¹⁰ The voice of nobles was hushed,
And their ^(H)tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.
¹¹ When the ear heard, then it blessed me,
And when the eye saw, then it approved me;
¹² Because ^(I)I delivered the poor who cried out,
The fatherless and the one who had no helper.
¹³ The blessing of a perishing man came upon me,
And I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.
^14 (J)I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
My justice was like a robe and a turban.
¹⁵ I was ^(K)eyes to the blind,
And I was feet to the lame.
¹⁶ I was a father to the poor,
And ^(L)I searched out the case that I did not know.
¹⁷ I broke ^(M)the fangs of the wicked,
And plucked the victim from his teeth.

¹⁸ “Then I said, ^(N)‘I shall die in my nest,
And multiply my days as the sand.
^19 (O)My root is spread out ^(P)to the waters,
And the dew lies all night on my branch.
²⁰ My glory is fresh within me,
And my ^(Q)bow is renewed in my hand.’

²¹ “Men listened to me and waited,
And kept silence for my counsel.
²² After my words they did not speak again,
And my speech settled on them as dew.
²³ They waited for me as for the rain,
And they opened their mouth wide as for ^(R)the spring rain.
²⁴ If I mocked at them, they did not believe it,
And the light of my countenance they did not cast down.
²⁵ I chose the way for them, and sat as chief;
So I dwelt as a king in the army,
As one who comforts mourners.