Job 29:1-10

1 Job again took up his discourse and said:

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

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

4 when I was in my prime, when the friendship of God was upon my tent;

5 when the Almighty was still with me, when my children were around 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 took my seat in the square,

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

9 the nobles refrained from talking, and laid their hands on their mouths;

10 the voices of princes 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Traditional rendering of Heb [Shaddai]