And Job again took up his parable, and said,
Oh that I were as in the months of old,
As in the days when God watched over me;
When his lamp shined {Or, above}upon my head,
And by his light I walked through darkness;
As I was in {Hebrew: my days of autumn.}the ripeness of my days,
When the {Or, counsel}friendship of God was upon my tent;
When the Almighty was yet with me,
And my children were about me;
When my steps were washed with butter,
And the rock poured me out streams of oil!
When I went forth to the gate unto the city,
When I prepared my seat in the {Or, broad place}street,
The young men saw me and hid themselves,
And the aged rose up and stood;
The princes refrained from talking,
And laid their hand on their mouth;
The voice of the nobels was {Hebrew: hid.}hushed,
And their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth.
For when the ear heard me, then it blessed me;
And when the eye saw me, it gave witness unto me:
Because I delivered the poor that cried,
The fatherless also, {Or, and him that had &c.}that had none to help him.
The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me;
And I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.
I put on righteousness, and it {Or, clothed itself with me}clothed me:
My justice was as a robe and a {Or, turban.}diadem.
I was eyes to the blind,
And feet was I to the lame.
I was a father to the needy:
And {Or, the cause which i knew not}the cause of him that I knew not I searched out.
And I brake the {Hebrew: great teeth.}jaws of the unrighteous,
And plucked the prey out of his teeth.
Then I said, I shall die {Or, beside Hebrew: with.}in my nest,
And I shall multiply my days as the sand:
My root is {Hebrew: opened.}spread out {Or, by}to the waters,
And the dew lieth all night upon my branch;
My glory is fresh in me,
And my bow is renewed in my hand.
Unto me men gave ear, and waited,
And kept silence for my counsel.
After my words they spake not again;
And my speech distilled upon them.
And they waited for me as for the rain;
And they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain.
I smiled on them, when they had no confidence;
And the light of my countenance they cast not down.
I chose out their way, and sat as chief,
And dwelt as a king in the army,
As one that comforteth the mourners.
Querverweise zu Hiob 29,19 Hiob 29,19
His roots shall be dried up beneath,And above shall his branch {Or, wither}be cut off.
And he shall be like a tree planted by the streams of water,That bringeth forth its fruit in its season,Whose leaf also doth not wither; {Or, in whatsoever he doeth he shall prosper}And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, that spreadeth out its roots by the river, and shall not {According to another reading, see.}fear when heat cometh, but its leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
I will be as the dew unto Israel; he shall blossom as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.
His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive-tree, and his smell as Lebanon.
They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the grain, and blossom as the vine: {Or, his memorial}the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.