Job 29:2-12

2 "If only my life could be like it used to be, in the days when God watched over me,

3 when he made his lamp shine on my head, when I walked through the dark in his light.

4 If only I were in the prime of my life [again], when God was an adviser in my tent.

5 When the Almighty was still with me and my children were around me,

6 my steps were bathed in buttermilk, and the rocks poured streams of olive oil on me.

7 When I went through the city gate and took my seat in the town square,

8 young men saw me and kept out of sight. Old men stood up straight out of respect [for me].

9 Princes held back [their] words and put their hands over their mouths.

10 The voices of nobles were hushed, and their tongues stuck to the roofs of their mouths.

11 "[Any] ears that heard me blessed me. [Any] eyes that saw me spoke well of me,

12 because I rescued the poor who called [for help] and the orphans who had no one to help them.

Job 29:2-12 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.