2“Oh, that I were as in months past,
As in the days when God watched over me;
3When His lamp shone upon my head,
And when by His light I walked through darkness;
4Just as I was in the days of my prime,
When the friendly counsel of God was over my tent;
5When the Almighty was yet with me,
When my children were around me;
6When my steps were bathed with [a]cream,
And the rock poured out rivers of oil for me!

7“When I went out to the gate by the city,
When I took my seat in the open square,
8The young men saw me and hid,
And the aged arose and stood;
9The princes refrained from talking,
And put their hand on their mouth;
10The voice of nobles was hushed,
And their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.
11When the ear heard, then it blessed me,
And when the eye saw, then it approved me;
12Because I delivered the poor who cried out,
The fatherless and the one who had no helper.
13The blessing of a perishing man came upon me,
And I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.
14I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
My justice was like a robe and a turban.
15I was eyes to the blind,
And I was feet to the lame.
16I was a father to the poor,
And I searched out the case that I did not know.
17I broke the fangs of the wicked,
And plucked the victim from his teeth.

18“Then I said, ‘I shall die in my nest,
And multiply my days as the sand.
19My root is spread out to the waters,
And the dew lies all night on my branch.
20My glory is fresh within me,
And my bow is renewed in my hand.’

21“Men listened to me and waited,
And kept silence for my counsel.
22After my words they did not speak again,
And my speech settled on them as dew.
23They waited for me as for the rain,
And they opened their mouth wide as for the spring rain.
24If I mocked at them, they did not believe it,
And the light of my countenance they did not cast down.
25I chose the way for them, and sat as chief;
So I dwelt as a king in the army,
As one who comforts mourners.