1 A nd Job continued his parable and said,

2 O h that I were as in months past, as in the days when +God preserved me;

3 W hen his lamp shone over my head, by his light I walked through darkness;

4 A s I was in the days of my youth, when the secret counsel of +God was over my tent,

5 W hen the Almighty was yet with me, my young men round about me;

6 W hen my steps were bathed in milk, and the rock poured out beside me rivers of oil! …

7 W hen I went out to the gate by the city, when I prepared my seat on the broadway,

8 T he young men saw me, and hid themselves; and the aged arose stood up;

9 P rinces refrained from talking, and laid the hand on their mouth;

10 T he voice of the nobles was hushed, and their tongue cleaved to their palate.

11 W hen the ear heard, then it blessed me, and when the eye saw, it gave witness to me;

12 F or I delivered the afflicted that cried, and the fatherless who had no helper.

13 T he blessing of him that was perishing came upon me, and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.

14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was as a mantle and a turban.

15 I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame;

16 I was a father to the needy, and the cause which I knew not I searched out;

17 A nd I broke the jaws of the unrighteous, and plucked the spoil out of his teeth.

18 A nd I said, I shall die in my nest, and multiply my days as the sand;

19 M y root shall be spread out to the waters, and the dew will lie all night on my branch;

20 M y glory shall be fresh in me, and my bow be renewed in my hand.

21 U nto me they listened, and waited, and kept silence for my counsel:

22 A fter my words they spoke not again, and my speech dropped upon them;

23 A nd they waited for me as for the rain, and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain.

24 I laughed on them, they believed not; and they troubled not the serenity of my countenance.

25 I chose their way, and sat as chief, and dwelt as a king in the army, as one that comforteth mourners.