2Oh that I were as in the months of old,

As in the days when God watched over me;

3When His lamp shined above my head,

And by His light I walked through darkness;

4As I was in the days of my youth,

When the converse of God was upon my tent;

5When the Almighty was yet with me,

And my children were about me;

6When my steps were washed with butter,

And the rock poured me out rivers of oil!

7When I went forth to the gate unto the city,

When I prepared my seat in the broad place,

8The young men saw me and hid themselves,

And the aged rose up and stood;

9The princes refrained talking,

And laid their hand on their mouth;

10The voice of the nobles was hushed,

And their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth.

11For when the ear heard me, then it blessed me,

And when the eye saw me, it gave witness unto me;

12Because I delivered the poor that cried,

The fatherless also, that had none to help him.

13The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me;

and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.

14I put on righteousness, and it clothed itself with me;

My justice was as a robe and a diadem.

15I was eyes to the blind,

And feet was I to the lame.

16I was a father to the needy;

And the cause of him that I knew not I searched out.

17And I broke the jaws of the unrighteous,

And plucked the prey out of his teeth.

18Then I said: ‘I shall die with my nest,

And I shall multiply my days as the phoenix;

19My root shall be spread out to the waters,

And the dew shall lie all night upon my branch;

20My glory shall be fresh in me,

And my bow shall be renewed in my hand.’

21Unto me men gave ear, and waited,

And kept silence for my counsel.

22After my words they spoke not again;

And my speech dropped upon them.

23And they waited for me as for the rain;

And they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain.

24If I laughed on them, they believed it not;

And the light of my countenance they cast not down.

25I chose out their way, and sat as chief, And dwelt as a king in the army,

As one that comforteth the mourners.