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¹ Iyov went on speaking:

² "I wish I were as in the old days,
back in the times when God watched over me;
³ when his lamp shone over my head,
and I walked through the dark by its light;
⁴ as I was when I was young,
and God's counsel graced my tent.
⁵ Then Shaddai was still with me,
my children were around me;
⁶ my steps were awash in butter,
and the rocks poured out for me streams of olive oil.
⁷ I would go out to the city gate
and set up my seat in the open space;
⁸ when young men saw me they would hide themselves,
while the aged arose and stood;
⁹ leaders refrained from speaking —
they would lay their hands on their mouths;
¹⁰ the voices of nobles were silenced;
their tongues stuck to their palates.
¹¹ Any ear that heard me blessed me,
any eye that saw me gave witness to me,
¹² for I delivered the poor when they cried for assistance,
the orphan too, who had no one to help him.
¹³ Those who had been about to die would bless me,
and I made widows sing in their hearts for joy.
¹⁴ I clothed myself with righteousness, and it clothed itself with me;
my justice was like a robe and a crown.
¹⁵ I was eyes for the blind,
and I was feet for the lame.
¹⁶ I was a father to the needy,
and I investigated the problems of those I didn't know.
¹⁷ I broke the jaws of the unrighteous
and snatched the prey from his teeth.
¹⁸ "I said, ‘I will die with my nest,
and I will live as long as a phoenix;
¹⁹ my root will spread till it reaches water,
and dew will stay all night on my branch;
²⁰ my glory will always be fresh,
my bow always new in my hand.'

²¹ "People would listen to me;
they waited and were silent when I gave advice.
²² After I spoke, they didn't talk back;
my words were like drops [of dew] on them.
²³ They waited for me as if for rain,
as if for spring rain, with their mouths open wide.
²⁴ When I joked with them, they couldn't believe it;
and they never darkened the light on my face.
²⁵ I chose their way [for them], sitting as chief;
I lived like a king in the army,
like one who comforts mourners.