“How I long for the months gone by, for the days when God watched over me,
Parallel translations
- WEB “Oh that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me;
- KJV Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me;
- NKJV “Oh, that I were as in months past, As in the days when God watched over me;
- NASB “Oh that I were as in months gone by, As in the days when God watched over me;
- NLT “I long for the years gone by when God took care of me,
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Job yearns for the past months when God watched over and preserved him.
Overview
Job opens his reminiscence with a heartfelt wish to return to the time when he enjoyed God's protective care. His deepest loss is not wealth or health but the sense of God's nearness. This longing for restored fellowship with God expresses a hunger the gospel ultimately satisfies, reconciling sinners to God through Christ (Romans 5:1-2).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Job 1:1–5There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. And this man was blameless and upright, fearing God and shunning evil.
- Jer 31:28Just as I watched over them to uproot and tear down, to demolish, destroy, and bring disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” declares the LORD.
- Job 1:10Have You not placed a hedge on every side around him and his household and all that he owns? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.
- Jude 1:1Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, To those who are called, loved by God the Father, and kept in Jesus Christ:
- Job 7:3So I am allotted months of futility, and nights of misery are appointed me.
- Ps 37:28For the LORD loves justice and will not forsake His saints. They are preserved forever, but the offspring of the wicked will be cut off.
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Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 29:2 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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