en_cjb - Job 29 - Ozzuu Bible

¹ Iyov went on speaking:

² “I wish I were as in the old days, back in the times when God watched over me;

³ when his lamp shone over my head, and I walked through the dark by its light;

⁴ as I was when I was young, and God’s counsel graced my tent.

⁵ Then Shaddai was still with me, my children were around me;

⁶ my steps were awash in butter, and the rocks poured out for me streams of olive oil.

⁷ I would go out to the city gate and set up my seat in the open space;

⁸ when young men saw me they would hide themselves, while the aged arose and stood;

⁹ leaders refrained from speaking — they would lay their hands on their mouths;

¹⁰ the voices of nobles were silenced; their tongues stuck to their palates.

¹¹ Any ear that heard me blessed me, any eye that saw me gave witness to me,

¹² for I delivered the poor when they cried for assistance, the orphan too, who had no one to help him.

¹³ Those who had been about to die would bless me, and I made widows sing in their hearts for joy.

¹⁴ I clothed myself with righteousness, and it clothed itself with me; my justice was like a robe and a crown.

¹⁵ I was eyes for the blind, and I was feet for the lame.

¹⁶ I was a father to the needy, and I investigated the problems of those I didn’t know.

¹⁷ I broke the jaws of the unrighteous and snatched the prey from his teeth.

¹⁸ “I said, ‘I will die with my nest, and I will live as long as a phoenix;

¹⁹ my root will spread till it reaches water, and dew will stay all night on my branch;

²⁰ my glory will always be fresh, my bow always new in my hand.’

²¹ “People would listen to me; they waited and were silent when I gave advice.

²² After I spoke, they didn’t talk back; my words were like drops [of dew] on them.

²³ They waited for me as if for rain, as if for spring rain, with their mouths open wide.

²⁴ When I joked with them, they couldn’t believe it; and they never darkened the light on my face.

²⁵ I chose their way [for them], sitting as chief; I lived like a king in the army, like one who comforts mourners.