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¹ 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 shone 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 in my tent; ⁵ When the Almighty was yet with me, And my children were around me; ⁶ When my steps were washed with butter, And the rock poured out streams of oil for me!

⁷ When I went forth to the city gate, When I prepared my seat in the street, ⁸ The young men saw me and hid themselves, The aged rose up and stood; ⁹ The princes refrained from talking, And laid their hand on their mouth; ¹⁰ The voice of the nobles was hushed, And their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth. ¹¹ For when the ear heard me, then it blessed me; And when the eye saw me, it commended me: ¹² Because I delivered the poor who cried, And the fatherless also, who had none to help him. ¹³ The blessing of him who 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 feet to the lame. ¹⁶ I was a father to the needy. The cause of him who I didn't know, I searched out. ¹⁷ I broke the jaws of the unrighteous, And plucked the prey out of his teeth.

¹⁸ Then I said, 'I shall die in my own house, I shall number my days as the sand. ¹⁹ My root is spread out to the waters, The dew lies all night on my branch; ²⁰ My glory is fresh in me, My bow is renewed in my hand.' ²¹ "Men listened to me, waited, And kept silence for my counsel. ²² After my words they didn't speak again; My speech fell on them. ²³ They waited for me as for the rain. Their mouths drank as with the spring rain. ²⁴ I smiled on them when they had no confidence. They didn't reject the light of my face. ²⁵ I chose out their way, and sat as chief. I lived as a king in the army, As one who comforts the mourners.