Job’s Past Was Glorious
And Job again took up his adiscourse and said,Num 23:7; 24:3; Job 13:12; 27:1
2 “Oh that I were as in months gone by,As in the days when God awatched over me;Jer 31:283 When aHis lamp shone over my head,And bby His light I walked through darkness;Job 18:6Job 11:174 As I was in 1the prime of my days,When the 2afriendship of God was over my tent;Lit the days of my autumnLit counselJob 15:8; Ps 25:14; Prov 3:325 When 1the Almighty was yet with me,And my children were around me;Heb Shaddai6 When my steps were bathed in abutter,And the brock poured out for me streams of oil!Deut 32:14; Job 20:17Deut 32:13; Ps 81:167 “When I went out to athe gate of the city,When I 1took my seat in the square,Lit set upJob 31:218 The young men saw me and hid themselves,And the old men arose and stood.9 “The princes astopped talkingAnd bput their hands on their mouths;Job 29:21Job 21:510 The voice of the nobles was 1ahushed,And their btongue stuck to their palate.Lit hiddenJob 29:22Ps 137:611 “For when athe ear heard, it called me blessed,And when the eye saw, it gave witness of me,Job 4:3, 412 Because I delivered athe poor who cried for help,And the borphan who had no helper.Job 24:4, 9; 34:28; Ps 72:12; Prov 21:13Job 31:17, 2113 “The blessing of the one aready to perish came upon me,And I made the bwidow’s heart sing for joy.Job 31:19Job 22:914 “I aput on righteousness, and it clothed me;My justice was like a robe and a turban.Job 27:5, 6; Ps 132:9; Is 59:17; 61:10; Eph 6:1415 “I was aeyes to the blindAnd feet to the lame.Num 10:3116 “I was a father to athe needy,And I investigated the case which I did not know.Job 24:4; Prov 29:717 “I abroke the jaws of the wickedAnd snatched the prey from his teeth.Ps 3:718 “Then I 1thought, ‘I shall die 2in my nest,And I shall multiply my days as the sand.Lit saidLit with19 ‘My aroot is spread out to the waters,And bdew lies all night on my branch.Jer 17:8Hos 14:520 ‘My glory is ever new with me,And my abow is renewed in my hand.’Gen 49:24; Ps 18:34
21 “To me athey listened and waited,And kept silent for my counsel.Job 4:3; 29:922 “After my words they did not aspeak again,And bmy speech dropped on them.Job 29:10Deut 32:223 “They waited for me as for the rain,And opened their mouth as for the spring rain.24 “I smiled on them when they did not believe,And the light of my face they did not cast down.25 “I chose a way for them and sat as achief,And dwelt as a king among the troops,As one who bcomforted the mourners.Job 1:3; 31:37Job 4:4; 16:5