Job 29:9-20

The leading men stopped speaking and covered their mouths with their hands. The voices of the important men were quiet, as if their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths. Anyone who heard me spoke well of me, and those who saw me praised me, because I saved the poor who called out and the orphan who had no one to help. The dying person blessed me, and I made the widow’s heart sing. I put on right living as if it were clothing; I wore fairness like a robe and a turban. I was eyes for the blind and feet for the lame. I was like a father to needy people, and I took the side of strangers who were in trouble. I broke the fangs of evil people and snatched the captives from their teeth. “I thought, ‘I will live for as many days as there are grains of sand, and I will die in my own house. My roots will reach down to the water. The dew will lie on the branches all night. New honors will come to me continually, and I will always have great strength.’