“I long for the years gone by when God took care of 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;
- BSB “How I long for the months gone by, for the days when God watched over 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;
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. That man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God, and turned away from evil.
- Jer 31:28It shall happen that, like as I have watched over them to pluck up and to break down and to overthrow and to destroy and to afflict, so will I watch over them to build and to plant,” says Yahweh.
- Job 1:10Haven’t you made a hedge around him, and around his house, and around all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
- Jude 1:1Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ:
- Job 7:3so am I made to possess months of misery, wearisome nights are appointed to me.
- Ps 37:28For Yahweh loves justice, and doesn’t forsake his saints. They are preserved forever, but the children of the wicked shall 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.