Job's summary defense
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Job spoke again and said this:
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“I wish that I could be as I was previously during the years when God took care of me.
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During those years, it was as though God’s lamp shone on me and gave me light while I walked in the darkness.
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At that time I was young and strong, and because God was my friend, he protected where I lived.
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God Almighty was with me during those years when all my children were around me.
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My herds provided me with plenty of milk, and streams of oil flowed from the rock where my servants pressed the olives.
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Whenever I went to the place where the elders gathered at the city gate, I sat down with them,
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and when the young men saw me, they stepped aside respectfully, and the old men also stood respectfully.
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The leaders of the people used to stop talking,
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and even the most important men became quiet and stopped talking in order to hear me speak to them.
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When they all heard what I told them, they said good things about me. When they saw me, they always praised me
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because I had helped those who were poor when they cried out for help, and because I aided those who had no fathers, those who had no one else to help them.
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Those who were suffering and about to die praised me, and I caused widows to sing joyfully, because I helped them.
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I always acted justly; my actions were like a robe that I wore and like a turban that was wrapped around my head.
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It was as though I myself saw for blind people and walked for people who were lame.
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I was like a father to the poor people, and in the courts I defended those who were strangers to me.
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I made wicked people stop oppressing others; it was like someone who breaks the teeth of wild animals and forces them to drop their victims from their teeth.
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At that time I thought, ’Surely I will live in peace until I am very old, and I will die at home with my family.
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I am like a tree whose roots reach down into the water and whose branches become wet with dew each night.
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People always honor me, and I am always strong like a new bow.’
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When I spoke, people waited to hear what I would say; they remained silent until I advised them what they should do.
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After I finished speaking, they did not say anymore; it was as though my words fell on their ears like drops of rain.
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They waited for me to speak as they wait for rain; they liked what I said as farmers appreciate the final rain in the spring before the dry season.
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When they were sad, I smiled at them to encourage them; they became encouraged when they saw my cheerful face.
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I was their leader, and I decided what things would be good for them to do; I was among them like a king who is among his troops; I was like someone who comforts others who are mourning.”
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