Job 29:2-12

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

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

4 as I was in the days of my youth, when God was familiar in my tent;

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

6 when I washed my steps with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil!

7 When I went out to the gate to judgment, when I had my seat prepared in the plaza!

8 The young men would see me and hide themselves, and the aged would arise and stand.

9 The princes would refrain from talking and lay their hand on their mouth;

10 the voice of the principals would not be noticed, and their tongue would cleave to the roof of their mouth.

11 When the ears that heard me, called me blessed; and when the eyes that saw me, gave witness to me:

12 because I delivered the poor that cried and the fatherless who had no one to help him.

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.