JOB.
29.
Job spoke again, 
“I wish/desire that I could be like I was previously, during the years when God took care of me. 
During those years,  it was as though God’s lamp MET shone on me and gave me light while I walked in the darkness. 
At that time I was young and strong, and because God was my friend,  he protected PRS my tent. 
Almighty  God was with me during those years when all my children were around me. 
 My herds provided me with plenty of milk, and streams of oil flowed from the rock where my olives were pressed. 
“Whenever I went to  the place where the elders gathered at the city gate, I sat down with them, 
and when the young men saw me, they stepped aside respectfully, and the old men  also stood respectfully. 
The leaders of the people stopped talking DOU, 
and even the most important men became quiet and ceased talking MTY  in order to hear me speak to them. 
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, 
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. 
Those who were suffering and about to die praised PRS me, and I caused widows SYN to sing joyfully,  because of my helping them. 
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. 
 It was as though MET I was eyes for blind people and feet for people who were lame. 
I was  like MET a father to poor people, and in courts I defended those who were strangers. 
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. 
“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.’ 
I was  like a tree MET whose roots reach down into the water and whose branches become wet with dew each night. 
People always honored me, and I was always  strong like MET a new bow. 
“When I spoke, people waited to hear  what I would say and remained silent until I advised them  what they should do. 
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. 
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. 
When they were discouraged, I smiled at them  to encourage them; they became encouraged when they saw that I approved of them. 
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.”