Home Prior Books Index
←Prev   Job 29 as rendered by/in  Next→ 

Did you notice?
 You can SEARCH IslamAwakened: 

29:1  Iyov went on speaking:
29:2  “I wish I were as in the old days, back in the times when God watched over me;
29:3  when his lamp shone over my head, and I walked through the dark by its light;
29:4  as I was when I was young, and God’s counsel graced my tent.
29:5  Then Shaddai was still with me, my children were around me;
29:6  my steps were awash in butter, and the rocks poured out for me streams of olive oil.
29:7  I would go out to the city gate and set up my seat in the open space;
29:8  when young men saw me they would hide themselves, while the aged arose and stood;
29:9  leaders refrained from speaking — they would lay their hands on their mouths;
29:10  the voices of nobles were silenced; their tongues stuck to their palates.
29:11  Any ear that heard me blessed me, any eye that saw me gave witness to me,
29:12  for I delivered the poor when they cried for assistance, the orphan too, who had no one to help him.
29:13  Those who had been about to die would bless me, and I made widows sing in their hearts for joy.
29:14  I clothed myself with righteousness, and it clothed itself with me; my justice was like a robe and a crown.
29:15  I was eyes for the blind, and I was feet for the lame.
29:16  I was a father to the needy, and I investigated the problems of those I didn’t know.
29:17  I broke the jaws of the unrighteous and snatched the prey from his teeth.
29:18  “I said, ‘I will die with my nest, and I will live as long as a phoenix;
29:19  my root will spread till it reaches water, and dew will stay all night on my branch;
29:20  my glory will always be fresh, my bow always new in my hand.’
29:21  “People would listen to me; they waited and were silent when I gave advice.
29:22  After I spoke, they didn’t talk back; my words were like drops [of dew] on them.
29:23  They waited for me as if for rain, as if for spring rain, with their mouths open wide.
29:24  When I joked with them, they couldn’t believe it; and they never darkened the light on my face.
29:25  I chose their way [for them], sitting as chief; I lived like a king in the army, like one who comforts mourners.