Job 29 · Clearspring

Job’s Former Blessings

¹And Job continued his discourse:+ ²“How I long for the months gone by, for the days when God watched over me,+ ³when His lamp shone above my head, and by His light I walked through the darkness,+ ⁴when I was in my prime, when the friendship of God rested on my tent,+ ⁵when the Almighty was still with me and my children were around me,+ ⁶when my steps were bathed in cream and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!+ ⁷When I went out to the city gate and took my seat in the public square,+ ⁸the young men saw me and withdrew, and the old men rose to their feet.+ ⁹The princes refrained from speaking and covered their mouths with their hands.+ ¹⁰The voices of the nobles were hushed, and their tongues stuck to the roofs of their mouths.+ ¹¹For those who heard me called me blessed, and those who saw me commended me,+ ¹²because I rescued the poor who cried out and the fatherless who had no helper.+ ¹³The dying man blessed me, and I made the widow’s heart sing for joy.+ ¹⁴I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; justice was my robe and my turban.+ ¹⁵I served as eyes to the blind and as feet to the lame.+ ¹⁶I was a father to the needy, and I took up the case of the stranger.+ ¹⁷I shattered the fangs of the unjust and snatched the prey from his teeth.+ ¹⁸So I thought: ‘I will die in my nest and multiply my days as the sand.+ ¹⁹My roots will spread out to the waters, and the dew will rest nightly on my branches.+ ²⁰My glory is ever new within me, and my bow is renewed in my hand.’+ ²¹Men listened to me with expectation, waiting silently for my counsel.+ ²²After my words, they spoke no more; my speech settled on them like dew.+ ²³They waited for me as for rain and drank in my words like spring showers.+ ²⁴If I smiled at them, they did not believe it; the light of my countenance was precious.+ ²⁵I chose their course and presided as chief. So I dwelt as a king among his troops, as a comforter of the mourners.’’+

Job’s Former Blessings

Study Job 29