USB ~ Job 29

VI. JOB’S FINAL SUMMARY OF HIS CAUSE

1 † Job took up his theme again and said:

2 Oh, that I were as in the months past, as in the days when God watched over me: a

3 While he kept his lamp shining above my head, and by his light I walked through darkness;

4 As I was in my flourishing days, when God sheltered my tent;

5 When the Almighty was still with me, and my children were round about me;

6 When my footsteps were bathed in cream, and the rock flowed with streams of oil.†

7 Whenever I went out to the gate of the city and took my seat in the square,

8 The young men saw me and withdrew, and the elders rose up and stood;

9 Officials refrained from speaking and covered their mouths with their hands; b

10 The voice of the princes was silenced, and their tongues stuck to the roofs of their mouths.

11 The ear that heard blessed me; the eye that saw acclaimed me.

12 For I rescued the poor who cried out for help, the orphans, and the unassisted;

13 The blessing of those in extremity came upon me, and the heart of the widow I made joyful.

14 I wore my righteousness like a garment; justice was my robe and my turban.

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

16 I was a father to the poor; the complaint of the stranger I pursued,

17 And I broke the jaws of the wicked man; from his teeth I forced the prey.

18 I said: “In my own nest I shall grow old; I shall multiply years like the phoenix.†

19 My root is spread out to the waters; the dew rests by night on my branches.

20 My glory is fresh within me, and my bow is renewed in my hand!”

21 For me they listened and waited; they were silent for my counsel.

22 Once I spoke, they said no more, but received my pronouncement drop by drop.

23 They waited for me as for the rain; they drank in my words like the spring rains.

24 When I smiled on them they could not believe it; they would not let the light of my face be dimmed.

25 I decided their course and sat at their head, I lived like a king among the troops, like one who comforts mourners.

Footnotes

†. 29:1 This chapter begins Job’s soliloquy, which will end in 31:40. He describes in florid and exaggerated terms his former lifestyle with all its blessings, a deliberate contrast to his current plight, which will be further described in chap. 30.

†. 29:6 Hyperbole to express abundance; see note on 20:17.

†. 29:18 Phoenix: a legendary bird which, after several centuries of life, consumed itself in fire, then rose from its ashes in youthful freshness.

29:2 Jb 1:10.
29:9 Wis 8:10-12.