1 And Job continued his parable and said,2 Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when +God preserved me;3 When his lamp shone over my head, {and} by his light I walked through darkness;4 As I was in the days of my youth, when the secret counsel of +God was over my tent,5 When the Almighty was yet with me, my young men round about me;6 When my steps were bathed in milk, and the rock poured out beside me rivers of oil! ...7 When I went out to the gate by the city, when I prepared my seat on the broadway,8 The young men saw me, and hid themselves; and the aged arose {and} stood up;9 Princes refrained from talking, and laid the hand on their mouth;10 The voice of the nobles was hushed, and their tongue cleaved to their palate.11 When the ear heard {me}, then it blessed me, and when the eye saw {me}, it gave witness to me;12 For I delivered the afflicted that cried, and the fatherless who had no helper.13 The blessing of him that was perishing came upon me, and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was as a mantle and a turban.15 I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame;16 I was a father to the needy, and the cause which I knew not I searched out;17 And I broke the jaws of the unrighteous, and plucked the spoil out of his teeth.18 And I said, I shall die in my nest, and multiply my days as the sand;19 My root shall be spread out to the waters, and the dew will lie all night on my branch;20 My glory shall be fresh in me, and my bow be renewed in my hand.21 Unto me they listened, and waited, and kept silence for my counsel:22 After my words they spoke not again, and my speech dropped upon them;23 And they waited for me as for the rain, and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain.24 {If} I laughed on them, they believed {it} not; and they troubled not the serenity of my countenance.25 I chose their way, and sat as chief, and dwelt as a king in the army, as one that comforteth mourners.