Job 29:4-14

4 I wish for the days when I was strong, when God's close friendship blessed my house.

5 The Almighty was still with me, and my children were all around me.

6 It was as if my path were covered with cream and the rocks poured out olive oil for me.

7 I would go to the city gate and sit in the public square.

8 When the young men saw me, they would step aside, and the old men would stand up in respect.

9 The leading men stopped speaking and covered their mouths with their hands.

10 The voices of the important men were quiet, as if their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.

11 Anyone who heard me spoke well of me, and those who saw me praised me,

12 because I saved the poor who called out and the orphan who had no one to help.

13 The dying person blessed me, and I made the widow's heart sing.

14 I put on right living as if it were clothing; I wore fairness like a robe and a turban.

Job 29:4-14 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.