1. And Job again took up his parable, and said,
2. Oh that I were as in the months of old, As in the days when God watched over me;
3. When his lamp shined upon my head, And by his light I walked through darkness;
4. As I was in the ripeness of my days, When the friendship of God was upon my tent;
5. When the Almighty was yet with me, And my children were about me;
6. When my steps were washed with butter, And the rock poured me out streams of oil!
7. When I went forth to the gate unto the city, When I prepared my seat in the street,
8. The young men saw me and hid themselves, And the aged rose up and stood;
9. The princes refrained from talking, And laid their hand on their mouth;
10. The voice of the nobles was hushed, And their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth.
11. For when the ear heard me, then it blessed me; And when the eye saw me, it gave witness unto me:
12. Because I delivered the poor that cried, The fatherless also, that had none to help him.
13. The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me; And I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.