Parallel Bible results for "job 29"

Job 29

Good News Translation GNT

1 Job began speaking again.

2 If only my life could once again be as it was when God watched over me.

3 God was always with me then and gave me light as I walked through the darkness.

4 Those were the days when I was prosperous, and the friendship of God protected my home.

5 Almighty God was with me then, and I was surrounded by all my children.

6 My cows and goats gave plenty of milk, and my olive trees grew in the rockiest soil.

7 Whenever the city elders met and I took my place among them,

8 young men stepped aside as soon as they saw me, and old men stood up to show me respect.

9 The leaders of the people would stop talking;

10 even the most important men kept silent.

11 Everyone who saw me or heard of me had good things to say about what I had done.

12 When the poor cried out, I helped them; I gave help to orphans who had nowhere to turn.

13 People who were in deepest misery praised me, and I helped widows find security.

14 I have always acted justly and fairly.

15 I was eyes for the blind, and feet for the lame.

16 I was like a father to the poor and took the side of strangers in trouble.

17 I destroyed the power of cruel men and rescued their victims.

18 I always expected to live a long life and to die at home in comfort.

19 I was like a tree whose roots always have water and whose branches are wet with dew.

20 Everyone was always praising me, and my strength never failed me.

21 When I gave advice, people were silent and listened carefully to what I said;

22 they had nothing to add when I had finished. My words sank in like drops of rain;

23 everyone welcomed them just as farmers welcome rain in spring.

24 I smiled on them when they had lost confidence; my cheerful face encouraged them.

25 I took charge and made the decisions; I led them as a king leads his troops, and gave them comfort in their despair.

Revised Standard Version RSV

1 And Job again took up his discourse, and said:

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

3 when his lamp shone upon my head, and by his light I walked through darkness;

4 as I was in my autumn days, when the friendship of God was upon my tent;

5 when the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were about me;

6 when my steps were washed with milk, and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!

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

8 the young men saw me and withdrew, and the aged rose and stood;

9 the princes refrained from talking, and laid their hand on their mouth;

10 the voice of the nobles was hushed, and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth.

11 When the ear heard, it called me blessed, and when the eye saw, it approved;

12 because I delivered the poor who cried, and the fatherless who had none to help him.

13 The blessing of him who was about to perish 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 feet to the lame.

16 I was a father to the poor, and I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know.

17 I broke the fangs of the unrighteous, and made him drop his prey from his teeth.

18 Then I thought, 'I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand,

19 my roots spread out to the waters, with the dew all night on my branches,

20 my glory fresh with me, and my bow ever new in my hand.'

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

22 After I spoke they did not speak again, and my word dropped upon them.

23 They waited for me as for the rain; and they opened their mouths as for the spring rain.

24 I smiled on them when they had no confidence; and the light of my countenance they did not cast down.

25 I chose their way, and sat as chief, and I dwelt like a king among his troops, like one who comforts mourners.