Job 29

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.
11 Whoever heard me spoke well of me, and those who saw me commended me,
12 because I rescued the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to assist them.
13 The one who was dying blessed me; I made the widow’s heart sing.
14 I put on righteousness as my clothing; justice was my robe and my turban.
15 I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame.
16 I was a father to the needy; I took up the case of the stranger.
17 I broke the fangs of the wicked and snatched the victims from their teeth.
18 “I thought, ‘I will die in my own house, my days as numerous as the grains of sand.
19 My roots will reach to the water, and the dew will lie all night on my branches.
20 My glory will not fade; the bow will be ever new in my hand.’
21 “People listened to me expectantly, waiting in silence for my counsel.
22 After I had spoken, they spoke no more; my words fell gently on their ears.
23 They waited for me as for showers and drank in my words as the spring rain.
24 When I smiled at them, they scarcely believed it; the light of my face was precious to them.[a]
25 I chose the way for them and sat as their chief; I dwelt as a king among his troops; I was like one who comforts mourners.

Cross References 48

  • 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
  • 19. S Job 4:4; Hebrews 11:4
  • 20. S Job 24:4
  • 21. S Deuteronomy 24:17; Job 31:17,21
  • 22. Psalms 72:12; Proverbs 21:13
  • 23. Job 31:20
  • 24. S Deuteronomy 10:18; S Job 22:9
  • 25. S 2 Samuel 8:15; S Job 27:6; Psalms 132:9; Isaiah 59:17; Isaiah 61:10; Ephesians 4:24; Ephesians 6:14
  • 26. S Job 19:9
  • 27. Numbers 10:31
  • 28. S Job 4:4
  • 29. S Job 24:4; Proverbs 29:7
  • 30. Exodus 18:26
  • 31. S Job 4:4; Proverbs 22:22-23
  • 32. Job 24:9
  • 33. S Job 4:10,11; S Psalms 3:7
  • 34. Psalms 1:1-3; Psalms 15:5; Psalms 16:8; Psalms 30:6; Psalms 62:2; Psalms 139:18; Proverbs 3:1-2
  • 35. S Numbers 24:6; S Job 14:9; Job 18:16; Jeremiah 17:8
  • 36. S Genesis 27:8; S Job 15:30; S Psalms 133:3
  • 37. Psalms 92:14
  • 38. Job 30:11; Psalms 18:34; Isaiah 38:12
  • 39. Genesis 49:24
  • 40. S ver 7,S 9
  • 41. ver 10
  • 42. Deuteronomy 32:2
  • 43. S Job 4:3
  • 44. S Numbers 6:25
  • 45. Proverbs 16:14,15
  • 46. S Job 21:28
  • 47. S Job 1:3; Job 31:37
  • 48. S Job 4:4

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. The meaning of the Hebrew for this clause is uncertain.

Job 29 Commentaries

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