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¹ And Job again took up his parable, and said,² Oh that I were as in the months of old, As in the days when God watched over me;³ When his lamp shined on my head, And by his light I walked through darkness;⁴ As I was in the ripeness of my days, When the friendship of God was on my tent;⁵ When the Almighty was yet with me, And my children were about me;⁶ When my steps were washed with butter, And the rock poured me out streams of oil!

⁷ When I went forth to the gate to the city, When I prepared my seat in the street,⁸ The young men saw me and hid themselves, And the aged rose up and stood;⁹ The princes refrained from talking, And laid their hand on their mouth;¹⁰ The voice of the leaders was hushed, And their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth.¹¹ For 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, The fatherless also, that had none to help him.¹³ The blessing of him that was ready to perish came on 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 robe and a diadem.¹⁵ I was eyes to the blind, And I was feet to the lame.¹⁶ I was a father to the needy: And the cause of him that I didn't know I searched out.¹⁷ And I broke the jaws of the unrighteous, And plucked the prey 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 is spread out to the waters, And the dew lies all night on my branch;²⁰ My glory is fresh in me, And my bow is renewed in my hand.²¹ To me men gave ear, and waited, And kept silent for my counsel.²² After my words they did not speak again; And my speech distilled on them.²³ And they waited for me as for the rain; And they opened their mouth wide [as] for the latter rain.²⁴ I smiled on them, when they had no confidence; And the light of my countenance they did not cast down.²⁵ I chose out their way, and sat [as] chief, And dwelt as a king in the army, As one that comforts the mourners.