rsv@Job:29:1 @ And Job again took up his discourse, and said:
rsv@Job:29:2 @ "Oh, that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me;
rsv@Job:29:3 @ when his lamp shone upon my head, and by his light I walked through darkness;
rsv@Job:29:4 @ as I was in my autumn days, when the friendship of God was upon my tent;
rsv@Job:29:5 @ when the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were about me;
rsv@Job:29:6 @ when my steps were washed with milk, and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!
rsv@Job:29:7 @ When I went out to the gate of the city, when I prepared my seat in the square,
rsv@Job:29:8 @ the young men saw me and withdrew, and the aged rose and stood;
rsv@Job:29:9 @ the princes refrained from talking, and laid their hand on their mouth;
rsv@Job:29:10 @ the voice of the nobles was hushed, and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth.
rsv@Job:29:11 @ When the ear heard, it called me blessed, and when the eye saw, it approved;
rsv@Job:29:12 @ because I delivered the poor who cried, and the fatherless who had none to help him.
rsv@Job:29:13 @ The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me, and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.
rsv@Job:29:14 @ I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and a turban.
rsv@Job:29:16 @ I was a father to the poor, and I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know.
rsv@Job:29:17 @ I broke the fangs of the unrighteous, and made him drop his prey from his teeth.
rsv@Job:29:18 @ Then I thought, `en I thought, "I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand,
rsv@Job:29:19 @ my roots spread out to the waters, with the dew all night on my branches,
rsv@Job:29:20 @ my glory fresh with me, and my bow ever new in my hand.'
rsv@Job:29:21 @ "Men listened to me, and waited, and kept silence for my counsel.
rsv@Job:29:22 @ After I spoke they did not speak again, and my word dropped upon them.
rsv@Job:29:23 @ They waited for me as for the rain; and they opened their mouths as for the spring rain.
rsv@Job:29:24 @ I smiled on them when they had no confidence; and the light of my countenance they did not cast down.
rsv@Job:29:25 @ I chose their way, and sat as chief, and I dwelt like a king among his troops, like one who comforts mourners.