Job 29 (asv)

^29:1And Job again took up his parable, and said,

^29:2Oh that I were as in the months of old,

As in the days when God watched over me;

^29:3When his lamp shined upon my head,

And by his light I walked through darkness;

^29:4As I was in the ripeness of my days,

When the friendship of God was upon my tent;

^29:5When the Almighty was yet with me,

And my children were about me;

^29:6When my steps were washed with butter,

And the rock poured me out streams of oil!

^29:7When I went forth to the gate unto the city,

When I prepared my seat in the street,

^29:8The young men saw me and hid themselves,

And the aged rose up and stood;

^29:9The princes refrained from talking,

And laid their hand on their mouth;

^29:10The voice of the nobles was hushed,

And their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth.

^29:11For when the ear heard me, then it blessed me;

And when the eye saw me, it gave witness unto me:

^29:12Because I delivered the poor that cried,

The fatherless also, that had none to help him.

^29:13The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me;

And I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.

^29:14I put on righteousness, and it clothed me:

My justice was as a robe and a diadem.

^29:15I was eyes to the blind,

And feet was I to the lame.

^29:16I was a father to the needy:

And the cause of him that I knew not I searched out.

^29:17And I brake the jaws of the unrighteous,

And plucked the prey out of his teeth.

^29:18Then I said, I shall die in my nest,

And I shall multiply my days as the sand:

^29:19My root is spread out to the waters,

And the dew lieth all night upon my branch;

^29:20My glory is fresh in me,

And my bow is renewed in my hand.

^29:21Unto me men gave ear, and waited,

And kept silence for my counsel.

^29:22After my words they spake not again;

And my speech distilled upon them.

^29:23And they waited for me as for the rain;

And they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain.

^29:24I smiled on them, when they had no confidence;

And the light of my countenance they cast not down.

^29:25I chose out their way, and sat as chief,

And dwelt as a king in the army,

As one that comforteth the mourners.