Job 29:1-9

1 And Job continued his parable and said,

2 Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me;

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

4 As I was in the days of my youth, when the secret counsel of God was over my tent,

5 When the Almighty was yet with me, my young men round about me;

6 When my steps were bathed in milk, and the rock poured out beside me rivers of oil! ...

7 When I went out to the gate by the city, when I prepared my seat on the broadway,

8 The young men saw me, and hid themselves; and the aged arose [and] stood up;

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

Job 29:1-9 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]. Lit. 'autumn:' it was the beginning of the civil year.
• [b]. Or 'children.'
• [c]. Or 'butter.'