Job 29
What Happens in This Chapter
Job keeps talking, and he remembers what his life was like before his troubles began. He describes God's care, his children around him, the respect he had at the city gate, and the way he helped poor people, widows, and children with no father. He tells how leaders went quiet to hear him speak, and how he expected to grow old safely at home. This is the start of Job's last long speech about his life.
Plain reading written for kids. Short sentences, everyday words, one idea at a time.
Moreover Job continued his parable, and said,
1Job kept on speaking. He said:
2Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me;
2I wish I could have back the months that are gone. God took care of me then.
3When his candle shined upon my head, and when by his light I walked through darkness;
3His lamp shone above my head. His light helped me walk through the dark.
4As I was in the days of my youth, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle;
4Those were my best years. God was my friend. He watched over my tent.
5When the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were about me;
5God, the All-Powerful One, was still with me. My children were all around me.
6When I washed my steps with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil;
6My steps were washed with cream. The rock poured out streams of oil for me.
Washing your steps with cream and getting rivers of oil from a rock are word pictures. They mean Job had far more than he needed.
7When I went out to the gate through the city, when I prepared my seat in the street!
7I would walk out to the city gate. I took my seat in the open square.
The city gate was the open place where leaders met, made decisions, and settled arguments. Sitting there meant you were an important man.
8The young men saw me, and hid themselves: and the aged arose, and stood up.
8The young men saw me and stepped back. The old men stood up to show respect.
9The princes refrained talking, and laid their hand on their mouth.
9The leaders stopped talking. They put their hands over their mouths.
10The nobles held their peace, and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth.
10Important men went quiet. Their tongues stuck to the roofs of their mouths.
11When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me:
11Everyone who heard me said good things about me. Everyone who saw me spoke well of me.
12Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him.
12I did this because I saved poor people who cried for help. I helped children with no father and no one to help them.
13The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.
13Dying men thanked me. I made the heart of a widow sing. A widow is a woman whose husband has died.
14I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and a diadem.
14I put on doing what is right, and it covered me like clothes. Being fair was my robe and my turban.
15I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame.
15I was eyes for people who could not see. I was feet for people who could not walk.
16I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not I searched out.
16I was like a father to people in need. I looked into the troubles of people I did not know.
17And I brake the jaws of the wicked, and plucked the spoil out of his teeth.
17I broke the teeth of cruel people. I pulled what they had grabbed out of their mouths.
18Then I said, I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand.
18So I thought, I will die safe at home. My days will be as many as grains of sand.
19My root was spread out by the waters, and the dew lay all night upon my branch.
19My roots will spread down to the water. Dew will rest on my branches all night.
20My glory was fresh in me, and my bow was renewed in my hand.
20My good name will always feel new. My bow will stay strong in my hand.
21Unto me men gave ear, and waited, and kept silence at my counsel.
21People listened to me and waited. They stayed quiet to hear my advice.
22After my words they spake not again; and my speech dropped upon them.
22When I finished, no one had more to say. My words settled on them gently, like dew.
23And they waited for me as for the rain; and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain.
23They waited for me the way people wait for rain. They drank in my words like spring showers.
Farmers waited for the spring rain, because it made their crops grow before harvest. Job says people wanted his words that much.
24If I laughed on them, they believed it not; and the light of my countenance they cast not down.
24If I smiled at them, they could hardly believe it. A kind look from me meant a lot.
25I chose out their way, and sat chief, and dwelt as a king in the army, as one that comforteth the mourners.
25I chose the path they should take. I sat as their leader. I lived like a king among his soldiers. I comforted people who were sad.
The KJV says Job sat "chief" in the army. It means he was the leader, not that he was in a war.
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