1: Job again took up his parable, and said, 2: "Oh that I were as in the months of old, As in the days when God watched over me; 3: When his lamp shone on my head, And by his light I walked through darkness; 4: As I was in the ripeness of my days, When the friendship of God was in my tent; 5: When the Almighty was yet with me, And my children were around me; 6: When my steps were washed with butter, And the rock poured out streams of oil for me! 7: When I went forth to the city gate, When I prepared my seat in the street, 8: The young men saw me and hid themselves, The aged rose up and stood; 9: The princes refrained from talking, And laid their hand on their mouth; 10: The voice of the nobles was hushed, And their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth. 11: For when the ear heard me, then it blessed me; And when the eye saw me, it commended me: 12: Because I delivered the poor who cried, And the fatherless also, who had none to help him. 13: The blessing of him who was ready to perish came on me, And I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. 14: I put on righteousness, and it clothed me. My justice was as a robe and a diadem. 15: I was eyes to the blind, And feet to the lame. 16: I was a father to the needy. The cause of him who I didn't know, I searched out. 17: I broke the jaws of the unrighteous, And plucked the prey out of his teeth. 18: Then I said, 'I shall die in my own house, I shall number my days as the sand. 19: My root is spread out to the waters, The dew lies all night on my branch; 20: My glory is fresh in me, My bow is renewed in my hand.' 21: "Men listened to me, waited, And kept silence for my counsel. 22: After my words they didn't speak again; My speech fell on them. 23: They waited for me as for the rain. Their mouths drank as with the spring rain. 24: I smiled on them when they had no confidence. They didn't reject the light of my face. 25: I chose out their way, and sat as chief. I lived as a king in the army, As one who comforts the mourners.
