Job 29

¹And Job again took up the word and said,

²If only I might again be as I was in the months which are past, in the days when God was watching over me!

³When his light was shining over my head, and when I went through the dark by his light.

⁴As I was in my flowering years, when my tent was covered by the hand of God;

⁵While the Ruler of all was still with me, and my children were round me;

⁶When my steps were washed with milk, and rivers of oil were flowing out of the rock for me.

⁷When I went out of my door to go up to the town, and took my seat in the public place,

⁸The young men saw me, and went away, and the old men got up from their seats;

⁹The rulers kept quiet, and put their hands on their mouths;

¹⁰The chiefs kept back their words, and their tongues were joined to the roofs of their mouths.

¹¹For when it came to their ears, men said that I was truly happy; and when their eyes saw, they gave witness to me;

¹²For I was a saviour to the poor when he was crying for help, to the child with no father, and to him who had no supporter.

¹³The blessing of him who was near to destruction came on me, and I put a song of joy into the widow's heart.

¹⁴I put on righteousness as my clothing, and was full of it; right decisions were to me a robe and a head-dress.