Job 29

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¹Job again took up his parable, and said, ✦ ²“Oh that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me; ✦ ³when his lamp shone on my head, and by his light I walked through darkness, ✦ ⁴as I was in the ripeness of my days, when the friendship of God was in my tent, ✦ ⁵when the Almighty was yet with me, and my children were around me, ✦ ⁶when my steps were washed with butter, and the rock poured out streams of oil for me, ✦ ⁷when I went out to the city gate, when I prepared my seat in the street. ✦ ⁸The young men saw me and hid themselves. The aged rose up and stood. ✦ ⁹The princes refrained from talking, and laid their hand on their mouth. ✦ ¹⁰The voice of the nobles was hushed, and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth. ✦ ¹¹For when the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it commended me: ✦ ¹²Because I delivered the poor who cried, and the fatherless also, who had no one to help him, ✦ ¹³the blessing of him who was ready to perish came on me, and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy. ✦ ¹⁴I put on righteousness, and it clothed me. My justice was as a robe and a diadem. ✦ ¹⁵I was eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame. ✦ ¹⁶I was a father to the needy. The cause of him who I didn’t know, I searched out. ✦ ¹⁷I broke the jaws of the unrighteous, and plucked the prey out of his teeth. ✦ ¹⁸Then I said, ‘I shall die in my own house, I shall count my days as the sand. ✦ ¹⁹My root is spread out to the waters. The dew lies all night on my branch. ✦ ²⁰My glory is fresh in me. My bow is renewed in my hand.’ ✦ ²¹“Men listened to me, waited, and kept silence for my counsel. ✦ ²²After my words they didn’t speak again. My speech fell on them. ✦ ²³They waited for me as for the rain. Their mouths drank as with the spring rain. ✦ ²⁴I smiled on them when they had no confidence. They didn’t reject the light of my face. ✦ ²⁵I chose out their way, and sat as chief. I lived as a king in the army, as one who comforts the mourners. ✦

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Where this chapter connects

Job 31 ·7 Job 1 ·5 Jas 1 ·3 Eph 5 ·3 Deut 33 ·3 Rom 13 ·3 Job 22 ·3 Job 21 ·2

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 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.

Resources, by level

Lay

★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical
A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.

Pastoral

SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical
Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.

Commentaries & study tools

VideoBibleProject — Job videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
VideoWatch teaching on Job 29YouTube · Lay · Free
Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.
CommentaryEnduring Word — Job 29David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical
Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.
CommentaryMatthew Henry on JobMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — Job 29Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free
Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

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