Job Finishes His Defense
1Job again took up his discourse and said:
2“O 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.’
21“They listened to me, and waited,
and kept silence for my counsel.
22After I spoke they did not speak again,
and my word dropped upon them like dew.
23They waited for me as for the rain;
they opened their mouths as for the spring rain.
24I smiled on them when they had no confidence;
and the light of my countenance they did not extinguish.
25I chose their way, and sat as chief,
and I lived like a king among his troops,
like one who comforts mourners.
