✧And Job continued his discourse: ✧2“How I long for the months gone by, for the days when God watched over me, ✧3when His lamp shone above my head, and by His light I walked through the darkness, ✧4when I was in my prime, when the friendship of God rested on my tent, ✧5when the Almighty was still with me and my children were around me, ✧6when my steps were bathed in cream and the rock poured out for me streams of oil! ✧7When I went out to the city gate and took my seat in the public square, ✧8the young men saw me and withdrew, and the old men rose to their feet. ✧9The princes refrained from speaking and covered their mouths with their hands. ✧10The voices of the nobles were hushed, and their tongues stuck to the roofs of their mouths. ✧11For those who heard me called me blessed, and those who saw me commended me, ✧12because I rescued the poor who cried out and the fatherless who had no helper. ✧13The dying man blessed me, and I made the widow’s heart sing for joy. ✧14I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; justice was my robe and my turban. ✧15I served as eyes to the blind and as feet to the lame. ✧16I was a father to the needy, and I took up the case of the stranger. ✧17I shattered the fangs of the unjust and snatched the prey from his teeth. ✧18So I thought: ‘I will die in my nest and multiply my days as the sand. ✧19My roots will spread out to the waters, and the dew will rest nightly on my branches. ✧20My glory is ever new within me, and my bow is renewed in my hand.’ ✧21Men listened to me with expectation, waiting silently for my counsel. ✧22After my words, they spoke no more; my speech settled on them like dew. ✧23They waited for me as for rain and drank in my words like spring showers. ✧24If I smiled at them, they did not believe it; the light of my countenance was precious. ✧25I chose their course and presided as chief. So I dwelt as a king among his troops, as a comforter of the mourners.