| 1 | | Moreover Job continued his parable, and said, |
| 2 | | Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me; |
| 3 | | When his candle shined upon my head, and when by his light I walked through darkness; |
| 4 | | As I was in the days of my youth, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle; |
| 5 | | When the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were about me; |
| 6 | | When I washed my steps with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil; |
| 7 | | When I went out to the gate through the city, when I prepared my seat in the street! |
| 8 | | The young men saw me, and hid themselves: and the aged arose, and stood up. |
| 9 | | The princes refrained talking, and laid their hand on their mouth. |
| 10 | | The nobles held their peace, and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth. |
| 11 | | When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me: |
| 12 | | Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him. |
| 13 | | The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. |
| 14 | | I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and a diadem. |
| 15 | | I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame. |
| 16 | | I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not I searched out. |
| 17 | | And I brake the jaws of the wicked, and plucked the spoil out of his teeth. |
| 18 | | Then I said, I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand. |
| 19 | | My root was spread out by the waters, and the dew lay all night upon my branch. |
| 20 | | My glory was fresh in me, and my bow was renewed in my hand. |
| 21 | | Unto me men gave ear, and waited, and kept silence at my counsel. |
| 22 | | After my words they spake not again; and my speech dropped upon them. |
| 23 | | And they waited for me as for the rain; and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain. |
| 24 | | If I laughed on them, they believed it not; and the light of my countenance they cast not down. |
| 25 | | I chose out their way, and sat chief, and dwelt as a king in the army, as one that comforteth the mourners. |