1And Job again took up his discourse, and said: (Nu 23:7; Job 27:1)2“Oh, that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me,3when his lamp shone upon my head, and by his light I walked through darkness, (2Sa 21:17; Job 18:6; Ps 18:28)4as I was in my prime,[1] when the friendship of God was upon my tent, (Job 15:8; Ps 25:14; Pr 3:32)5when the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were all around me, (Job 1:2; Ps 128:3)6when my steps were washed with butter, and the rock poured out for me streams of oil! (Ge 49:11; De 32:13; De 33:24; Job 20:17; Ps 81:16)7When I went out to the gate of the city, when I prepared my seat in the square, (Job 5:4)8the young men saw me and withdrew, and the aged rose and stood;9the princes refrained from talking and laid their hand on their mouth; (Job 21:5)10the voice of the nobles was hushed, and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth. (Ps 22:15; Ps 137:6; La 4:4; Eze 3:26)11When the ear heard, it called me blessed, and when the eye saw, it approved,12because I delivered the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to help him. (Ps 72:12)13The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me, and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy. (Ru 2:20; Job 31:20; Pr 31:6; Isa 27:13)14I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and a turban. (Job 19:9; Ps 132:9; Isa 11:5; Isa 59:17; Isa 61:10; Isa 62:3; Zec 3:5; Eph 6:14; 1Th 5:8)15I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame. (Nu 10:31)16I was a father to the needy, and I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know. (Pr 29:7)17I broke the fangs of the unrighteous and made him drop his prey from his teeth. (Ps 3:7; Ps 58:6; Pr 30:14)18Then I thought, ‘I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand, (Ge 22:17; Nu 24:21; Job 39:27; Ps 30:6)19my roots spread out to the waters, with the dew all night on my branches, (Job 14:9; Job 18:16; Ps 1:3)20my glory fresh with me, and my bow ever new in my hand.’ (Ge 49:24; Isa 40:31; Isa 41:1)21“Men listened to me and waited and kept silence for my counsel.22After I spoke they did not speak again, and my word dropped upon them. (De 32:2; De 33:28)23They waited for me as for the rain, and they opened their mouths as for the spring rain. (De 11:14; Ps 119:131; Pr 16:15; Isa 5:14; Jer 3:3; Zec 10:1)24I smiled on them when they had no confidence, and the light of my face they did not cast down. (Ge 4:5; Pr 16:15)25I chose their way and sat as chief, and I lived like a king among his troops, like one who comforts mourners. (Job 15:24)