Job:29-30

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* Moreover Job continued his parable , and said , * Oh that I were as in months past , as in the days when God preserved me ; * When his candle shined upon my head , and when by his light I walked through darkness ; * As I was in the days of my youth , when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle ; * When the Almighty was yet with me , when my children were about me ; * When I washed my steps with butter , and the rock poured me out rivers of oil ; * When I went out to the gate through the city , when I prepared my seat in the street ! * The young men saw me , and hid themselves : and the aged arose , and stood up . * The princes refrained talking , and laid their hand on their mouth . * The nobles held their peace , and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth . * When the ear heard me , then it blessed me ; and when the eye saw me , it gave witness to me : * Because I delivered the poor that cried , and the fatherless , and him that had none to help him . * The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me : and I caused the widow 's heart to sing for joy . * I put on righteousness , and it clothed me : my judgment was as a robe and a diadem . * I was eyes to the blind , and feet was I to the lame . * I was a father to the poor : and the cause which I knew not I searched out . * And I brake the jaws of the wicked , and plucked the spoil out of his teeth . * Then I said , I shall die in my nest , and I shall multiply my days as the sand . * My root was spread out by the waters , and the dew lay all night upon my branch . * My glory was fresh in me , and my bow was renewed in my hand . * Unto me men gave ear , and waited , and kept silence at my counsel . * After my words they spake not again ; and my speech dropped upon them . * And they waited for me as for the rain ; and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain . * If I laughed on them , they believed it not ; and the light of my countenance they cast not down . * I chose out their way , and sat chief , and dwelt as a king in the army , as one that comforteth the mourners . * But now they that are younger than I have me in derision , whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock . * Yea , whereto might the strength of their hands profit me , in whom old age was perished ? * For want and famine they were solitary ; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste . * Who cut up mallows by the bushes , and juniper roots for their meat . * They were driven forth from among men , (they cried after them as after a thief ;) * To dwell in the clifts of the valleys , in caves of the earth , and in the rocks . * Among the bushes they brayed ; under the nettles they were gathered together . * They were children of fools , yea , children of base men : they were viler than the earth . * And now am I their song , yea , I am their byword . * They abhor me , they flee far from me , and spare not to spit in my face . * Because he hath loosed my cord , and afflicted me , they have also let loose the bridle before me . * Upon my right hand rise the youth ; they push away my feet , and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction . * They mar my path , they set forward my calamity , they have no helper . * They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters : in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me . * Terrors are turned upon me : they pursue my soul as the wind : and my welfare passeth away as a cloud . * And now my soul is poured out upon me ; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me . * My bones are pierced in me in the night season : and my sinews take no rest . * By the great force of my disease is my garment changed : it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat . * He hath cast me into the mire , and I am become like dust and ashes . * I cry unto thee , and thou dost not hear me : I stand up , and thou regardest me not . * Thou art become cruel to me : with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me . * Thou liftest me up to the wind ; thou causest me to ride upon it , and dissolvest my substance . * For I know that thou wilt bring me to death , and to the house appointed for all living . * Howbeit he will not stretch out his hand to the grave , though they cry in his destruction . * Did not I weep for him that was in trouble ? was not my soul grieved for the poor ? * When I looked for good , then evil came unto me : and when I waited for light , there came darkness . * My bowels boiled , and rested not : the days of affliction prevented me . * I went mourning without the sun : I stood up , and I cried in the congregation . * I am a brother to dragons , and a companion to owls . * My skin is black upon me , and my bones are burned with heat . * My harp also is turned to mourning , and my organ into the voice of them that weep . * I made a covenant with mine eyes ; why then should I think upon a maid ?

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