RSV Job 29 Chapter
29:1
And Job again took up his discourse, and said:
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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when his lamp shone upon my head, and by his light I walked through darkness;
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as I was in my autumn days, when the friendship of God was upon my tent;
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when the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were about me;
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when my steps were washed with milk, and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!
29:7
When I went out to the gate of the city, when I prepared my seat in the square,
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the young men saw me and withdrew, and the aged rose and stood;
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the princes refrained from talking, and laid their hand on their mouth;
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the voice of the nobles was hushed, and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth.
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When the ear heard, it called me blessed, and when the eye saw, it approved;
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because I delivered the poor who cried, and the fatherless who had none to help him.
29:13
The blessing of him who was about to perish 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 poor, and I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know.
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I broke the fangs of the unrighteous, and made him drop his prey from his teeth.
29:18
Then I thought, I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand,
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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 fresh with me, and my bow ever new in my hand.'
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'Men 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.
29:23
They waited for me as for the rain;and 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 cast down.
29:25
I chose their way, and sat as chief, and I dwelt like a king among his troops, like one who comforts mourners.