Job 29:1-10

Job’s Final Defense

1 Job continued his discourse:
2 “How I long for the months gone by, for the days when God watched over me,
3 when his lamp shone on my head and by his light I walked through darkness!
4 Oh, for the days when I was in my prime, when God’s intimate friendship blessed my house,
5 when the Almighty was still with me and my children were around me,
6 when my path was drenched with cream and the rock poured out for me streams of olive oil.
7 “When I went to the gate of the city and took my seat in the public square,
8 the young men saw me and stepped aside and the old men rose to their feet;
9 the chief men refrained from speaking and covered their mouths with their hands;
10 the voices of the nobles were hushed, and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.

Job 29:1-10 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JOB 29

In this chapter Job gives an account of his former and wishes it was with him now as then; and which he describes with respect to his own person, and the favours he personally enjoyed, whether temporal or spiritual, Job 29:1-4; with respect to his family and domestic affairs, Job 29:5,6; with regard to the esteem he had from men of every age and station, Job 29:7-11; the reasons of which were the mercy and compassion he showed to the poor, the fatherless, and the widow, and the justice he administered in the execution of his office as a magistrate, Job 29:12-17; in which honour and prosperity he expected to have lived and died, Job 29:18-20; and which he further describes by the respect he had among men, and the power and authority he exercised over them, Job 29:21-25.

Cross References 18

  • 1. Job 13:12; Job 27:1
  • 2. S Genesis 31:30
  • 3. Jeremiah 1:12; Jeremiah 31:28; Jeremiah 44:27
  • 4. S Job 11:17; S Job 12:25
  • 5. S Job 15:8
  • 6. Psalms 25:14; Proverbs 3:32
  • 7. Psalms 127:3-5; Psalms 128:3
  • 8. Ruth 4:1
  • 9. S Job 20:17
  • 10. Psalms 81:16
  • 11. Genesis 49:20; S Deuteronomy 32:13
  • 12. ver 21; Job 5:4; Job 31:21; Jeremiah 20:2; Jeremiah 38:7
  • 13. 1 Timothy 5:1
  • 14. S Leviticus 19:32
  • 15. ver 21; Job 31:21
  • 16. S Judges 18:19; Job 40:4; Proverbs 30:32; Job 21:5
  • 17. ver 22
  • 18. Psalms 137:6
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