Whoever listened to me, spoke well of me

¹ Job continued his discourse:

² Oh, that I were in months gone by,

in the days when God watched over me,

³ when his light shone upon my head

and I walked with it through darkness.

⁴ Oh, that I were in my prime,

when God’s friendship blessed my home,

⁵ when the Almighty was still with me

and my children were around me,

⁶ when milk bathed my footsteps

and olive oil flowed from the rock.

⁷ When I went to the city gate

and took up my seat in the square

⁸ the young men stepped aside

and the old men rose to their feet;

⁹ the chief men dared not speak

but laid their hands on their mouths;

¹⁰ the princes were silenced,

their tongues stuck to the palate.

²¹ They listened to me and waited in silence

for my counsel.

²² Once I spoke they said no more,

but drop by drop my words kept falling on them.

²³ They waited for me as people wait for showers;

they drank in my words as spring rain.

²⁴ If I smiled at them, they did not dare believe it;

not a glance of mine was lost.

²⁵ I pointed out the way, as a leader

and took a king’s place among the troops.

Wherever I led them, they went.

Whoever heard me, spoke well of me,

and those who saw me commended me,

for I rescued the poor who cried for help,

the fatherless and the unassisted.

I was blessed by the dying man;

I turned to peace the widow’s pining.

I was wearing my honesty like a garment,

my integrity was my robe and turban.

I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame,

father to the needy, the stranger’s advocate.

I broke the jaws of the wicked,

and from his teeth forced out the prey.

I said to myself: “I will die old,

my days as many as the grains of sand.

My roots will reach to the water;

at night my branches will be wet with dew.

My glory will remain fresh,

the bow ever strong in my grip.”