Job 29

New Century Version

² “How I wish for the months that have passed
    and the days when God watched over me.
³ God’s lamp shined on my head,
    and I walked through darkness by his light.
⁴ I wish for the days when I was strong,
    when God’s close friendship blessed my house.
⁵ The Almighty was still with me,
    and my children were all around me.
⁶ It was as if my path were covered with cream
    and the rocks poured out olive oil for me.
⁷ I would go to the city gate
    and sit in the public square.
⁸ When the young men saw me, they would step aside,
    and the old men would stand up in respect.
⁹ The leading men stopped speaking
    and covered their mouths with their hands.
¹⁰ The voices of the important men were quiet,
    as if their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.
¹¹ Anyone who heard me spoke well of me,
    and those who saw me praised me,
¹² because I saved the poor who called out
    and the orphan who had no one to help.
¹³ The dying person blessed me,
    and I made the widow’s heart sing.
¹⁴ I put on right living as if it were clothing;
    I wore fairness like a robe and a turban.
¹⁵ I was eyes for the blind
    and feet for the lame.
¹⁶ I was like a father to needy people,
    and I took the side of strangers who were in trouble.
¹⁷ I broke the fangs of evil people
    and snatched the captives from their teeth.

¹⁸ “I thought, ‘I will live for as many days as there are grains of sand,
    and I will die in my own house.
¹⁹ My roots will reach down to the water.
    The dew will lie on the branches all night.
²⁰ New honors will come to me continually,
    and I will always have great strength.’

²¹ “People listened to me carefully
    and waited quietly for my advice.
²² After I finished speaking, they spoke no more.
    My words fell very gently on their ears.
²³ They waited for me as they would for rain
    and drank in my words like spring rain.
²⁴ I smiled at them when they doubted,
    and my approval was important to them.
²⁵ I chose the way for them and was their leader.
    I lived like a king among his army,
    like a person who comforts sad people.