29
Job’s final speech
Job spoke again,
I wish/desire that I could be like I was previously,
during the years when God took care of me.
During those years, it was as though God’s lamp [MET] shone on me
and gave me light while I walked in the darkness.
At that time I was young and strong,
and because God was my friend, he protected [PRS] my tent.
Almighty God was with me during those years
when all my children were around me.
My herds provided me with plenty of milk,
and streams of oil flowed from the rock where my olives were pressed.
 
“Whenever I went to the place where the elders gathered at the city gate,
I sat down with them,
and when the young men saw me, they stepped aside respectfully,
and the old men also stood respectfully.
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.”