Job 29:7-25

English Standard Version

⁷When I went out to ^(A)the gate of the city,
    when I prepared my seat in the square,
⁸the young men saw me and withdrew,
    and the aged rose and stood;
⁹the princes refrained from talking
    and ^(B)laid their hand on their mouth;
¹⁰the voice of the nobles was hushed,
    and their ^(C)tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.
¹¹When the ear heard, it called me blessed,
    and when the eye saw, it approved,
¹²because I ^(D)delivered the poor who cried for help,
    and the fatherless who had none to help him.
¹³^(E)The blessing of him who was ^(F)about to perish came upon me,
    and I caused ^(G)the widow's heart to sing for joy.
¹⁴I ^(H)put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
    my justice was like a robe and ^(I)a turban.
¹⁵I was ^(J)eyes to the blind
    and feet to the lame.
¹⁶I was a father to the needy,
    and I searched out ^(K)the cause of him whom I did not know.
¹⁷I ^(L)broke ^(M)the fangs of the unrighteous
    and made him drop his prey from his teeth.
¹⁸^(N)Then I thought, ‘I shall die in my ^(O)nest,
    and I shall multiply my days as ^(P)the sand,
¹⁹my ^(Q)roots spread out to ^(R)the waters,
    with the dew all night on my ^(S)branches,
²⁰my glory fresh with me,
    and my ^(T)bow ever ^(U)new in my hand.’

²¹“Men listened to me and waited
    and kept silence for my counsel.
²²After I spoke they did not speak again,
    and my word ^(V)dropped upon them.
²³They waited for me as for the rain,
    and they ^(W)opened their mouths as for the ^(X)spring rain.
²⁴I smiled on them when they had no confidence,
    and ^(Y)the light of my ^(Z)face they did not cast down.
²⁵I chose their way and sat as chief,
    and I lived like ^(AA)a king among his troops,
    like one who comforts mourners.