29
Job’s final speech
1 Job spoke again,
2 “I wish/desire that I could be like I was previously,
during the years when God took care of me.
3 During those years, it was as though God’s lamp [MET] shone on me
and gave me light while I walked in the darkness.
4 At that time I was young and strong,
and because God was my friend, he protected [PRS] my tent.
5 Almighty God was with me during those years
when all my children were around me.
6 My herds provided me with plenty of milk,
and streams of oil flowed from the rock where my olives were pressed.
7 “Whenever I went to the place where the elders gathered at the city gate,
I sat down with them,
8 and when the young men saw me, they stepped aside respectfully,
and the old men also stood respectfully.
9 The leaders of the people stopped talking [DOU],
10 and even the most important men became quiet
and ceased talking [MTY] in order to hear me speak to them.
11 When they [SYN] all heard what I told them,
they said good things about me.
When they [SYN] saw me (OR, what I had done), they commended me,
12 because I had helped the poor people when they cried out for help
and I aided/helped orphans who had no one else to help them.
13 Those who were suffering and about to die praised [PRS] me,
and I caused widows [SYN] to sing joyfully, because of my helping them.
14 I always acted justly;
my continually doing that was like [MET] a robe that I wore and a turban that was wrapped around my head.
15 It was as though [MET] I was eyes for blind people
and feet for people who were lame.
16 I was like [MET] a father to poor people,
and in courts I defended those who were strangers.
17 My causing wicked people to be unable to continue oppressing others was like [MET] breaking the fangs of fierce wild animals
and forcing them to drop from their teeth/mouths the animals that they had caught/seized.
18 “At that time I thought, ‘Surely I will live securely, until I am very old [SIM],
and I will die at home with my family.’
19 I was like a tree [MET] whose roots reach down into the water
and whose branches become wet with dew each night.
20 People always honored me,
and I was always strong like [MET] a new bow.
21 “When I spoke, people waited to hear what I would say
and remained silent until I advised them what they should do.
22 After I finished speaking, they did not say any more;
it was as though [MET] my words fell on their ears like refreshing drops of rain.
23 They waited for me to speak like they wait for rain;
they appreciated what I said like [MET] farmers appreciate the final rain in the spring before the dry season.
24 When they were discouraged, I smiled at them to encourage them;
they became encouraged when they saw that I approved of them.
25 I was their leader, and I decided what things would be good for them to do;
I was among them like [SIM] a king who is among his troops;
I was like someone who comforts others who are mourning.”