NAB

Job took up his theme again and said:

Oh, that I were as in the months past,
as in the days when God watched over me:

While he kept his lamp shining above my head,
and by his light I walked through darkness;

As I was in my flourishing days,
when God sheltered my tent;

When the Almighty was still with me,
and my children were round about me;

When my footsteps were bathed in cream,
and the rock flowed with streams of oil.

Whenever I went out to the gate of the city
and took my seat in the square,

The young men saw me and withdrew,
and the elders rose up and stood;

Officials refrained from speaking
and covered their mouths with their hands;

The voice of the princes was silenced,
and their tongues stuck to the roofs of their mouths.

The ear that heard blessed me;
the eye that saw acclaimed me.

For I rescued the poor who cried out for help,
the orphans, and the unassisted;

The blessing of those in extremity came upon me,
and the heart of the widow I made joyful.

I wore my righteousness like a garment;
justice was my robe and my turban.

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

I was a father to the poor;
the complaint of the stranger I pursued,

And I broke the jaws of the wicked man;
from his teeth I forced the prey.

I said: “In my own nest I shall grow old;
I shall multiply years like the phoenix.

My root is spread out to the waters;
the dew rests by night on my branches.

My glory is fresh within me,
and my bow is renewed in my hand!”

For me they listened and waited;
they were silent for my counsel.

Once I spoke, they said no more,
but received my pronouncement drop by drop.

They waited for me as for the rain;
they drank in my words like the spring rains.

When I smiled on them they could not believe it;
they would not let the light of my face be dimmed.

I decided their course and sat at their head,
I lived like a king among the troops,
like one who comforts mourners.