Job’s final speech

29 Job spoke again,

2 “I wish/desire that I could be like I was previously,

during the years when God took care of me.

3 During those years, it was as though God’s lamp [MET] shone on me

and gave me light while I walked in the darkness.

4 At that time I was young and strong,

and because God was my friend, he protected [PRS] my tent.

5 Almighty God was with me during those years

when all my children were around me.

6 My herds provided me with plenty of milk,

and streams of oil flowed from the rock where my olives were pressed.

7 “Whenever I went to the place where the elders gathered at the city gate,

I sat down with them,

8 and when the young men saw me, they stepped aside respectfully,

and the old men also stood respectfully.

9 The leaders of the people stopped talking [DOU],

10 and even the most important men became quiet

and ceased talking [MTY] in order to hear me speak to them.

11 When they [SYN] all heard what I told them,

they said good things about me.

When they [SYN] saw me (OR, what I had done), they commended me,

12 because I had helped the poor people when they cried out for help

and I aided/helped orphans who had no one else to help them.

13 Those who were suffering and about to die praised [PRS] me,

and I caused widows [SYN] to sing joyfully, because of my helping them.

14 I always acted justly;

my continually doing that was like [MET] a robe that I wore and a turban that was wrapped around my head.

15 It was as though [MET] I was eyes for blind people

and feet for people who were lame.

16 I was like [MET] a father to poor people,

and in courts I defended those who were strangers.

17 My causing wicked people to be unable to continue oppressing others was like [MET] breaking the fangs of fierce wild animals

and forcing them to drop from their teeth/mouths the animals that they had caught/seized.

18 “At that time I thought, ‘Surely I will live securely, until I am very old [SIM],

and I will die at home with my family.’

19 I was like a tree [MET] whose roots reach down into the water

and whose branches become wet with dew each night.

20 People always honored me,

and I was always strong like [MET] a new bow.

21 “When I spoke, people waited to hear what I would say

and remained silent until I advised them what they should do.

22 After I finished speaking, they did not say any more;

it was as though [MET] my words fell on their ears like refreshing drops of rain.

23 They waited for me to speak like they wait for rain;

they appreciated what I said like [MET] farmers appreciate the final rain in the spring before the dry season.

24 When they were discouraged, I smiled at them to encourage them;

they became encouraged when they saw that I approved of them.

25 I was their leader, and I decided what things would be good for them to do;

I was among them like [SIM] a king who is among his troops;

I was like someone who comforts others who are mourning.”