Job 29

1Job spoke again, 2“I wish/desire that I could be like I was previously, during the years when God took care of me. 3During those years, it was as though God’s lamp [MET] shone on me and gave me light while I walked in the darkness. 4At that time I was young and strong, and because God was my friend, he protected [PRS] my tent. 5Almighty God was with me during those years when all my children were around me. 6My herds provided me with plenty of milk, and streams of oil flowed from the rock where my olives were pressed. 7“Whenever I went to the place where the elders gathered at the city gate, I sat down with them, 8and when the young men saw me, they stepped aside respectfully, and the old men also stood respectfully. 9The leaders of the people stopped talking [DOU], 10and even the most important men became quiet and ceased talking [MTY] in order to hear me speak to them. 11When they [SYN] all heard what I told them, they said good things about me. When they [SYN] saw me (OR, what I had done), they commended me, 12because I had helped the poor people when they cried out for help and I aided/helped orphans who had no one else to help them. 13Those who were suffering and about to die praised [PRS] me, and I caused widows [SYN] to sing joyfully, because of my helping them. 14I always acted justly; my continually doing that was like [MET] a robe that I wore and a turban that was wrapped around my head. 15It was as though [MET] I was eyes for blind people and feet for people who were lame. 16I was like [MET] a father to poor people, and in courts I defended those who were strangers. 17My causing wicked people to be unable to continue oppressing others was like [MET] breaking the fangs of fierce wild animals and forcing them to drop from their teeth/mouths the animals that they had caught/seized. 18“At that time I thought, ‘Surely I will live securely, until I am very old [SIM], and I will die at home with my family.’ 19I was like a tree [MET] whose roots reach down into the water and whose branches become wet with dew each night. 20People always honored me, and I was always strong like [MET] a new bow. 21“When I spoke, people waited to hear what I would say and remained silent until I advised them what they should do. 22After I finished speaking, they did not say any more; it was as though [MET] my words fell on their ears like refreshing drops of rain. 23They waited for me to speak like they wait for rain; they appreciated what I said like [MET] farmers appreciate the final rain in the spring before the dry season. 24When they were discouraged, I smiled at them to encourage them; they became encouraged when they saw that I approved of them.