Job’s Final Defense

29 Then[fn] Job again took up his discourse and said,

• 2 “O that I were[fn] as in the months before, as in the days when God watched over me,
• 3 when his shining lamp was over my head— by his light I walked through darkness—
• 4 as when I was in the days of my prime, when God’s confiding was over my house ,[fn]
• 5 when Shaddai was still with me, my children were all around me,
• 6 when my paths were washed in sour milk, and the rock poured out streams of oil for me.
• 7 “At my going out the gate to the city, I secured my seat in the square.
• 8 Young men saw me and stepped aside, and the aged rose up and stood.
• 9 Officials refrained from talking, and they laid their hand on their mouth.
• 10 The voices[fn] of nobles were hushed, and their tongue stuck to their palate.
• 11 “When the ear heard and commended me, and the eye saw and testified in support of me
• 12 because I saved the needy who cried for help, and I saved[fn] the orphan for whom there was no helper.
• 13 The blessing of the wretched came upon me, and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.
• 14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and a headband.
• 15 “I was eyes to the blind, and I was feet to the lame.
• 16 I was a father to the poor, and I investigated the stranger’s[fn] legal dispute.
• 17 And I broke the evil one’s jaw bones, and I made his prey drop from his teeth.
• 18 “And I thought, ‘I will pass away in my nest, and like the phoenix I shall multiply my days.
• 19 My roots were open to water, and dew spent the night on my branches;
• 20 My glory was new with me, and I was revitalized regularly .’[fn]
• 21 “They listened to me and waited, and they kept silent for my counsel.
• 22 After my word, they did not speak again, and my word dropped down like dew upon them.
• 23 And they waited for me as for the rain, and they opened their mouth wide as for the spring rain.
• 24 I smiled for them when they had no confidence in anything, and they did not extinguish the light of my face.
• 25 I chose their way, and I sat as head, and I dwelled like a king among the troops,
• like one who comforts mourners.