2. “O that I were as in the months before, as in the days when God watched over me,
3. when his shining lamp was over my head— by his light I walked through darkness—
4. as when I was in the days of my prime, when God’s confiding was over my house,
5. when Shaddaiwas still with me, my children were all around me,
6. when my paths were washed in sour milk, and the rock poured out streams of oil for me.
7. “At my going out the gate to the city, I secured my seat in the square.
8. Young men saw me and stepped aside, and the aged rose up and stood.
9. Officials refrained from talking, and they laid their hand on their mouth.
10. The voices of nobles were hushed, and their tongue stuck to their palate.
11. “When the ear heard and commended me, and the eye saw and testified in support of me
12. because I saved the needy who cried for help, and I saved the orphan for whom there was no helper.