Job 29:1-25 VOICE

[1] Job continued. [2] Job: Ah, that I were as I once was, months ago during the time when God oversaw me, [3] When His lamp shone above my head, and by His light, I walked through the darkness. [4] Ah, to be in the ripest time of life once more- when the intimacies of friendship with God enfolded my tent, [5] When the Highest One was with me and my children encircled me, [6] When my steps were bathed in milk and the rock poured out rivers of olive oil, showering my body, [7] When I went up to the gate of the city, when I took my seat in the town square where the elders meet. [8] There the young saw me and made room for me, in deference to elders. The old rose and stood out of respect. [9] The leaders stopped talking with their hands over their mouths. [10] The voices of nobles fell to a hush; their tongues stuck to the roofs of their mouths. [11] Every ear that heard me blessed me, and every eye that saw me testified to my greatness. [12] After all, I rescued the poor when they cried out for help and assisted the orphans when they had no one else. [13] The dying spoke their blessings over me, and the widows sang their joyful songs honoring what I did. [14] I adorned myself in righteousness, and it covered me; my justice fit me like a cloak and turban- conveying both my dignity and my authority. [15] I was the eyes for the blind, the feet for the lame, [16] A father for the needy, and I sought for the cause of whom I did not know. [17] I broke out the fangs of the wicked and wrested prey from their jaws. [18] Then I said, "I will pass from this earth in the comfort of my nest. My days will be more numerous than a beach's grains of sand. [19] My roots will grow deep, spreading out to the water's edge, and in the night, the dew will come to rest on my branches. [20] Respect will be accorded me every day, my skill with the bow always new in my hand." [21] People used to listen to me, the sense of expectation visible on their faces; they waited in silence for my advice. [22] And when I finished, they did not hurry to speak again. They waited while my words dropped like dew upon them. [23] Indeed, they waited for me as one waits for a good rain, and they opened their mouths as if to catch spring showers on their tongues. [24] I smiled upon them when their confidence flagged, and they took comfort in my beaming face. [25] I led them in their way. I sat as their leader. I lived like a king among his troops. I was as a happy man spreading comfort among the mourners.