IV. Job’s Concluding Soliloquy (29:1-31:40)
Job Recalls His Former Condition 129:1 Then Job continued 2 his speech:
29:2 “O that I could be 3 as 4 I was
in the months now gone, 5
in the days 6 when God watched 7 over me,
29:3 when 8 he caused 9 his lamp 10
to shine upon my head,
and by his light
I walked 11 through darkness; 12
29:4 just as I was in my most productive time, 13
when God’s intimate friendship 14 was experienced in my tent,
29:5 when the Almighty 15 was still with me
and my children were 16 around me;
29:6 when my steps 17 were bathed 18 with butter 19
and the rock poured out for me streams of olive oil! 20
29:7 When I went out to the city gate
and secured my seat in the public square, 21
29:8 the young men would see me and step aside, 22
and the old men would get up and remain standing;
29:9 the chief men refrained from talking
and covered their mouths with their hands;
29:10 the voices of the nobles fell silent, 23
and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.
29:11 “As soon as the ear heard these things, 24 it blessed me, 25
and when the eye saw them, it bore witness to me,
29:12 for I rescued the poor who cried out for help,
and the orphan who 26 had no one to assist him;
29:13 the blessing of the dying man descended on me, 27
and I made the widow’s heart rejoice; 28
29:14 I put on righteousness and it clothed me, 29
my just dealing 30 was like a robe and a turban;