章 |
29:1 |
Job again took up his discourse and said:
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29:2 |
"Oh, that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me;
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29:3 |
when his lamp shone over my head, and by his light I walked through darkness;
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29:4 |
when I was in my prime, when the friendship of God was upon my tent;
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29:5 |
when the Almighty was still with me, when my children were around me;
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29:6 |
when my steps were washed with milk, and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!
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29:7 |
When I went out to the gate of the city, when I took my seat in the square,
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29:8 |
the young men saw me and withdrew, and the aged rose up and stood;
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29:9 |
the nobles refrained from talking, and laid their hands on their mouths;
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29:10 |
the voices of princes were hushed, and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.
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29:11 |
When the ear heard, it commended me, and when the eye saw, it approved;
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29:12 |
because I delivered the poor who cried, and the orphan who had no helper.
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29:13 |
The blessing of the wretched came upon me, and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.
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29:14 |
I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and a turban.
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29:15 |
I was eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame.
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29:16 |
I was a father to the needy, and I championed the cause of the stranger.
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29:17 |
I broke the fangs of the unrighteous, and made them drop their prey from their teeth.
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29:18 |
Then I thought, 'I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days like the phoenix;
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29:19 |
my roots spread out to the waters, with the dew all night on my branches;
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29:20 |
my glory was fresh with me, and my bow ever new in my hand.'
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29:21 |
"They listened to me, and waited, and kept silence for my counsel.
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29:22 |
After I spoke they did not speak again, and my word dropped upon them like dew.
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29:23 |
They waited for me as for the rain; they opened their mouths as for the spring rain.
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29:24 |
I smiled on them when they had no confidence; and the light of my countenance they did not extinguish.
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29:25 |
I chose their way, and sat as chief, and I lived like a king among his troops, like one who comforts mourners.
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