Study

Job Finishes His Defense

29

Job again took up his discourse and said:

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“O that I were as in the months of old,

as in the days when God watched over me;

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when his lamp shone over my head,

and by his light I walked through darkness;

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when I was in my prime,

when the friendship of God was upon my tent;

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when the Almighty was still with me,

when my children were around me;

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when my steps were washed with milk,

and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!

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When I went out to the gate of the city,

when I took my seat in the square,

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the young men saw me and withdrew,

and the aged rose up and stood;

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the nobles refrained from talking,

and laid their hands on their mouths;

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the voices of princes were hushed,

and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.

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When the ear heard, it commended me,

and when the eye saw, it approved;

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because I delivered the poor who cried,

and the orphan who had no helper.

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The blessing of the wretched came upon me,

and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.

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I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;

my justice was like a robe and a turban.

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I was eyes to the blind,

and feet to the lame.

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I was a father to the needy,

and I championed the cause of the stranger.

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I broke the fangs of the unrighteous,

and made them drop their prey from their teeth.

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Then I thought, ‘I shall die in my nest,

and I shall multiply my days like the phoenix;

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my roots spread out to the waters,

with the dew all night on my branches;

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my glory was fresh with me,

and my bow ever new in my hand.’

 

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“They listened to me, and waited,

and kept silence for my counsel.

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After I spoke they did not speak again,

and my word dropped upon them like dew.

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They waited for me as for the rain;

they opened their mouths as for the spring rain.

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I smiled on them when they had no confidence;

and the light of my countenance they did not extinguish.

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I chose their way, and sat as chief,

and I lived like a king among his troops,

like one who comforts mourners.