📖 Job 29
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IV. Job’s Concluding Soliloquy(29:1-31:40)Job Recalls His Former Condition Then Job continued his speech:
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“O that I could be as I was in the months now gone, in the days when God watched over me,
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when he caused his lamp to shine upon my head, and by his light I walked through darkness;
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just as I was in my most productive time, when God’s intimate friendship was experienced in my tent,
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when the Almighty was still with me and my children were around me;
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when my steps were bathed with butter and the rock poured out for me streams of olive oil!
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When I went out to the city gate and secured my seat in the public square,
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the young men would see me and step aside, and the old men would get up and remain standing;
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the chief men refrained from talking and covered their mouths with their hands;
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the voices of the nobles fell silent, and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.
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Job’s Benevolence“As soon as the ear heard these things, it blessed me, and when the eye saw them, it bore witness to me,
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for I rescued the poor who cried out for help, and the orphan who had no one to assist him;
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the blessing of the dying man descended on me, and I made the widow’s heart rejoice;
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I put on righteousness and it clothed me, my just dealing was like a robe and a turban;
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I was eyes for the blind and feet for the lame;
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I was a father to the needy, and I investigated the case of the person I did not know;
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I broke the fangs of the wicked, and made him drop his prey from his teeth.
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Job’s Confidence“Then I thought,‘I will die in my own home, my days as numerous as the grains of sand.
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My roots reach the water, and the dew lies on my branches all night long.
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My glory will always be fresh in me, and my bow ever new in my hand.’
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Job’s Reputation“People listened to me and waited silently; they kept silent for my advice.
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After I had spoken, they did not respond; my words fell on them drop by drop.
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They waited for me as people wait for the rain, and they opened their mouths as for the spring rains.
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If I smiled at them, they hardly believed it; and they did not cause the light of my face to darken.
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I chose the way for them and sat as their chief; I lived like a king among his troops; I was like one who comforts mourners.