New International Version NIV
Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible RHE
1 Job continued his discourse:
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Job also added, taking up his parable, and said:
2 “How I long for the months gone by, for the days when God watched over me,
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Who will grant me, that I might be according to the months past, according to the days in which God kept me?
3 when his lamp shone on my head and by his light I walked through darkness!
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When his lamp shined over my head, and I walked by his light in darkness?
4 Oh, for the days when I was in my prime, when God’s intimate friendship blessed my house,
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As I was in the days of my youth, when God was secretly in my tabernacle?
5 when the Almighty was still with me and my children were around me,
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When the Almighty was with me: and my servants round about me?
6 when my path was drenched with cream and the rock poured out for me streams of olive oil.
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When I washed my feet with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil?
7 “When I went to the gate of the city and took my seat in the public square,
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When I went out to the gate of the city, and in the street they prepared me a chair?
8 the young men saw me and stepped aside and the old men rose to their feet;
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The young men saw me, and hid themselves: and the old men rose up and stood.
9 the chief men refrained from speaking and covered their mouths with their hands;
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The princes ceased to speak, and laid the finger on their mouth.
10 the voices of the nobles were hushed, and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.
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The rulers held their peace, and their tongue cleaved to their throat.
11 Whoever heard me spoke well of me, and those who saw me commended me,
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The ear that heard me blessed me, and the eye that saw me gave witness to me:
12 because I rescued the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to assist them.
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Because I had delivered the poor man that cried out; and the fatherless, that had no helper.
13 The one who was dying blessed me; I made the widow’s heart sing.
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The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me, and I comforted the heart of the widow.
14 I put on righteousness as my clothing; justice was my robe and my turban.
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I was clad with justice: and I clothed myself with my judgment, as with a robe and a diadem.
15 I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame.
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I was an eye to the blind, and a foot to the lame.
16 I was a father to the needy; I took up the case of the stranger.
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I was the father of the poor: and the cause which I knew not, I searched out most diligently.
17 I broke the fangs of the wicked and snatched the victims from their teeth.
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I broke the jaws of the wicked man, and out of his teeth I took away the prey.
18 “I thought, ‘I will die in my own house, my days as numerous as the grains of sand.
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And I said: I shall die in my nest, and as a palm tree shall multiply my days.
19 My roots will reach to the water, and the dew will lie all night on my branches.
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My root is opened beside the waters, and dew shall continue in my harvest.
20 My glory will not fade; the bow will be ever new in my hand.’
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My glory shall always be renewed, and my bow in my hand shall be repaired.
21 “People listened to me expectantly, waiting in silence for my counsel.
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They that heard me, waited for my sentence, and being attentive held their peace at my counsel.
22 After I had spoken, they spoke no more; my words fell gently on their ears.
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To my words they durst add nothing, and my speech dropped upon them.
23 They waited for me as for showers and drank in my words as the spring rain.
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They waited for me as for rain, and they opened their mouth as for a latter shower.
24 When I smiled at them, they scarcely believed it; the light of my face was precious to them.
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If at any time I laughed on them, they believed not, and the light of my countenance fell not on earth.
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.
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If I had a mind to go to them, I sat first, and when I sat as a king, with his army standing about him, yet I was a comforter of them that mourned.
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