约伯记 29

1Job again took up his theme and said:

2O that I were as in months gone by,In the days when God watched over me,

3When God’s lamp shone over my head,When I walked in the dark by its light,

4When I was in my prime,When God’s company graced my tent,

5When Shaddai was still with me,When my attendants surrounded me,

6When my feet were bathed in cream,And rocks poured out streams of oil for me.

7When I passed through the city gatesTo take my seat in the square,

8Young men saw me and hid,Elders rose and stood;

9Nobles held back their words;They clapped their hands to their mouths.

10The voices of princes were hushed;Their tongues stuck to their palates.

11The ear that heard me acclaimed me;The eye that saw, commended me.

12For I saved the pauper who cried out,The orphan who had no helper.

13I received the blessing of the lost;I gladdened the heart of the widow.

14I clothed myself in righteousness and it robed me;Justice was my cloak and turban.

15I was eyes to the blindAnd feet to the lame.

16I was a father to the needy,And I looked into the case of the stranger.

17I broke the jaws of the wrongdoer,And I wrested prey from his teeth.

18I thought I would end my days with my family, And be as long-lived as the phoenix,

19My roots reaching water,And dew lying on my branches;

20My vigor refreshed,My bow ever new in my hand.

21Men would listen to me expectantly,And wait for my counsel.

22After I spoke they had nothing to say;My words were as drops [of dew] upon them.

23They waited for me as for rain,For the late rain, their mouths open wide.

24When I smiled at them, they would not believe it;They never expected as from pll; cf. Gen. 48.11. a sign of my favor.

25I decided their course and presided over them;I lived like a king among his troops,Like one who consoles mourners.