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29Job again took up his discourse and said: ²“Oh, that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me; ³when his lamp shone over my head, and by his light I walked through darkness; ⁴when I was in my prime, when the friendship of God was upon my tent; ⁵when the Almighty was still with me, when my children were around me; ⁶when my steps were washed with milk, and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!

⁷When I went out to the gate of the city, when I took my seat in the square, ⁸the young men saw me and withdrew, and the aged rose up and stood; ⁹the nobles refrained from talking, and laid their hands on their mouths; ¹⁰the voices of princes were hushed, and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths. ¹¹When the ear heard, it commended me, and when the eye saw, it approved; ¹²because I delivered the poor who cried, and the orphan who had no helper. ¹³The blessing of the wretched came upon me, and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy. ¹⁴I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and a turban. ¹⁵I was eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame. ¹⁶I was a father to the needy, and I championed the cause of the stranger. ¹⁷I broke the fangs of the unrighteous, and made them drop their prey from their teeth.

¹⁸Then I thought, ‘I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days like the phoenix; ¹⁹my roots spread out to the waters, with the dew all night on my branches; ²⁰my glory was fresh with me, and my bow ever new in my hand.’