Dual PanelJob's final survey of his case
1THEN Job resumed his discourse:
2If only I could go back to the old days, to the time when God was watching over me,
3when his lamp shone above my head, and by its light I walked through the darkness!
4If I could be as in the days of my prime, when God protected my home,
5while the Almighty was still there at my side, and my servants stood round me,
6while my path flowed with milk, and the rocks poured forth streams of oil for me!
7When I went out of my gate up to the town to take my seat in the public square,
8young men saw me and kept back out of sight, old men rose to their feet,
9men in authority broke off their talk and put their hands to their lips;
10the voices of the nobles died away, and every man held his tongue.
11Whoever heard of me spoke favourably of me, and those who saw me bore witness to my merit,
12how I saved the poor who appealed for help, and the fatherless and him who had no protector.
13He who was threatened with ruin blessed me, and I made the widow's heart sing for joy.
14I put on righteousness as a garment and it clothed me; justice, like a cloak and turban, adorned me.
15I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame;
16I was a father to the needy, and I took up the stranger's cause.
17I broke the fangs of the miscreant and wrested the prey from his teeth.
18I thought, “I shall die with my powers unimpaired and my days uncounted as the grains of sand,
19with my roots spreading out to the water and the dew lying on my branches,
20with the bow always new in my grasp and the arrow ever ready to my hand.”
21They listened to me expectantly and waited in silence for my counsel.
22After I had spoken, no one spoke again; my words fell gently on them;
23they waited for me as for rain, open-mouthed as for spring showers.
24When I smiled on them, they took heart; when my face lit up, they lost their gloomy looks.
25I presided over them, planning their course, like a king encamped with his troops, like one who comforts mourners.