איוב כ״טJob 29

Job again took up his theme and said:

O that I were as in months gone by,
In the days when God watched over me,

When God’s lamp shone over my head,
When I walked in the dark by its light,

When I was in my prime,
When God’s company graced my tent,

When Shaddai was still with me,
When my attendants surrounded me,

When my feet were bathed in cream,
And rocks poured out streams of oil for me.

When I passed through the city gates
To take my seat in the square,

Young men saw me and hid,
Elders rose and stood;

Nobles held back their words;
They clapped their hands to their mouths.

The voices of princes were hushed;
Their tongues stuck to their palates.

The ear that heard me acclaimed me;
The eye that saw, commended me.

For I saved the pauper who cried out,
The orphan who had no helper.

I received the blessing of the lost;
I gladdened the heart of the widow.

I clothed myself in righteousness and it robed me;
Justice was my cloak and turban.

I was eyes to the blind
And feet to the lame.

I was a father to the needy,
And I looked into the case of the stranger.

I broke the jaws of the wrongdoer,
And I wrested prey from his teeth.

I thought I would end my days with my family,
And be as long-lived as the phoenix,

My roots reaching water,
And dew lying on my branches;

My vigor refreshed,
My bow ever new in my hand.

Men would listen to me expectantly,
And wait for my counsel.

After I spoke they had nothing to say;
My words were as drops [of dew] upon them.

They waited for me as for rain,
For the late rain, their mouths open wide.

When I smiled at them, they would not believe it;
They never expected as from pll; cf. Gen. 48.11. a sign of my favor.

I decided their course and presided over them;
I lived like a king among his troops,
Like one who consoles mourners.