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 ^[a]upon my head,
And by his light I walked through darkness;
⁴ As I was in ^[b]the ripeness of my days,
When the ^[c]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 ^[d]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 ^[e]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, ^[f]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.
¹⁴ I put on righteousness, and it ^[g]clothed me:
My justice was as a robe and a ^[h]diadem.
¹⁵ I was eyes to the blind,
And feet was I to the lame.
¹⁶ I was a father to the needy:
And ^[i]the cause of him that I knew not I searched out.
¹⁷ And I brake the ^[j]jaws of the unrighteous,
And plucked the prey out of his teeth.
¹⁸ Then I said, I shall die ^[k]in my nest,
And I shall multiply my days as the sand:
¹⁹ My root is ^[l]spread out ^[m]to the waters,
And the dew lieth all night upon my branch:
²⁰ My glory is fresh in me,
And my bow is renewed in my hand.
²¹ Unto me men gave ear, and waited,
And kept silence for my counsel.
²² After my words they spake not again;
And my speech distilled upon them.
²³ And they waited for me as for the rain;
And they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain.
²⁴ I smiled on them, when they had no confidence;
And the light of my countenance they cast not down.
²⁵ I chose out their way, and sat as chief,
And dwelt as a king in the army,
As one that comforteth the mourners.