Job’s Summary Defense

² “Oh, that I were as in months past,
As in the days when God watched over me;

³ When His lamp shone upon my head,
And when by His light I walked through darkness;

⁴ Just as I was in the days of my prime,
When the friendly counsel of God was over my tent;

⁵ When the Almighty was yet with me,
When my children were around me;

⁶ When my steps were bathed with cream,^[a]
And the rock poured out rivers of oil for me!

⁷ “When I went out to the gate by the city,
When I took my seat in the open square,

⁸ The young men saw me and hid,
And the aged arose and stood;

⁹ The princes refrained from talking,
And put their hand on their mouth;

¹⁰ The voice of nobles was hushed,
And their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.

¹¹ When the ear heard, then it blessed me,
And when the eye saw, then it approved me;

¹² Because I delivered the poor who cried out,
The fatherless and the one who had no helper.

¹³ The blessing of a perishing man 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 like a robe and a turban.

¹⁵ I was eyes to the blind,
And I was feet to the lame.

¹⁶ I was a father to the poor,
And I searched out the case that I did not know.

¹⁷ I broke the fangs of the wicked,
And plucked the victim from his teeth.

¹⁸ “Then I said, ‘I shall die in my nest,
And multiply my days as the sand.

¹⁹ My root is spread out to the waters,
And the dew lies all night on my branch.

²⁰ My glory is fresh within me,
And my bow is renewed in my hand.’

²¹ “Men listened to me and waited,
And kept silence for my counsel.

²² After my words they did not speak again,
And my speech settled on them as dew.

²³ They waited for me as for the rain,
And they opened their mouth wide as for the spring rain.

²⁴ If I mocked at them, they did not believe it,
And the light of my countenance they did not cast down.

²⁵ I chose the way for them, and sat as chief;
So I dwelt as a king in the army,
As one who comforts mourners.