Oh That I Were as in the Months of Old — Job 29:7–16

When I went forth to the gate unto the city,
When I prepared my seat in the street,

The young men saw me and hid themselves,
And the aged rose up and stood;

The princes refrained from talking,
And laid their hand on their mouth;

The voice of the nobles was hushed,
And their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth.

For when the ear heard me, then it blessed me;
And when the eye saw me, it gave witness unto me:

Because I delivered the poor that cried,
The fatherless also, that had none to help him.

The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me;
And I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.

I put on righteousness, and it clothed me:
My justice was as a robe and a diadem.

I was eyes to the blind,
And feet was I to the lame.

I was a father to the needy:
And the cause of him that I knew not I searched out.