Then Job again took up his discourse and said,

Oh that I were as in the months of old, As in the days when God watched over me;

When His lamp shone over my head, And by His light I walked through darkness;

As I was in the days of my prime, When intimate counsel with God was over my tent;

When the Almighty was yet with me, And my children were around me;

When my steps were bathed in milk, And the rock poured out for me streams of oil!

When I went out to the gate of the city, When I prepared my seat in the square,

The young men saw me and hid themselves, And the aged rose up and stood.

Princes refrained from talking And laid their hand over their mouth.

The voice of the nobles was hushed, And their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.

For when the ear heard me, it blessed me; And when the eye saw me, it bore witness to me;

Because I delivered the poor man who cried out, And the orphan who had no one to help him.

The blessing of him who was perishing came upon me, And I made the widow's heart shout for joy.

I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; My justice was like a robe and a turban.

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

I was a father to the needy, And the cause of him whom I did not know I investigated.

I broke the jaws of the unjust And made him drop the prey from his teeth.

Then I said, I will die in my nest, And I will multiply my days like the sand.

My root is spread out to the water, And dew abides on my branch at night.

My glory is always new with me, And my bow is renewed in my hand.

Men listened to me and waited, And they were silent for my counsel.

After my words they spoke not again, And my speech distilled like dew upon them.

And they waited for me as for the rain, And they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain.

I smiled on them-they could not believe it; And they did not cast down the light of my countenance.

I chose the way for them and sat as chief, And I dwelt as a king among the troops, As one who comforts those who mourn.