the Second Week after Easter
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THE MESSAGE
Job 29:2
Bible Study Resources
Dictionaries:
- BridgewayEncyclopedias:
- InternationalParallel Translations
If only I could be as in months gone by,in the days when God watched over me,
"Oh that I were as in the months of old, As in the days when God watched over me;
Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me;
"Oh, that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me,
"How I wish for the months that have passed and the days when God watched over me.
"O that I could be as I was in the months now gone, in the days when God watched over me,
"Oh, that I were as in the months of old, As in the days when God watched over me,
"Oh that I were as in months gone by, As in the days when God watched over me;
"Oh that I were as in the months of old, As in the days when God watched over me;
Oh that I were as in times past, when God preserued me!
"Oh that I were as in months gone by,As in the days when God kept me,
"How I long for the months gone by, for the days when God watched over me,
I long for the past, when God took care of me,
"I wish I were as in the old days, back in the times when God watched over me;
Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when +God preserved me;
"I wish my life could be the same as it was a few months ago, when God watched over me and cared for me.
O that I were as in months past, as in the days when God took care of me;
Job
If only my life could once again be as it was when God watched over me."O that I were as in the months before, as in the days when God watched over me,
Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when God watched over me;
O yt I were as I was in the monethes by past, & in the dayes whe God preserued me:
Oh that I were as in the months of old, As in the days when God watched over me;
If only I might again be as I was in the months which are past, in the days when God was watching over me!
Oh that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me;
O that I were as in moneths past, as in the dayes when God preserued me.
O that I were as I was in the monethes by past, and in the daies when God preserued me:
Oh that I were as in months past, wherein God preserved me!
Oh that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me;
Who yyueth to me, that I be bisidis the elde monethis, bi the daies in whiche God kepte me?
Oh that I were as in the months of old, As in the days when God watched over me;
Oh that I were as [in] months past, as [in] the days [when] God preserved me;
"Oh, that I were as in months past, As in the days when God watched over me;
"I long for the years gone by when God took care of me,
"If only I could be now as I was in the months past when God watched over me!
"O that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me;
Oh that it were with me as in the months of old, as in the days, when, GOD, used to watch over me;
Who will grant me, that I might be according to the months past, according to the days in which God kept me?
"Oh, that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me;
Who doth make me as [in] months past, As [in] the days of God's preserving me?
"Oh that I were as in months gone by, As in the days when God watched over me;
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
as in months: Job 1:1-5, Job 7:3
God: Job 1:10, Psalms 37:28, Jude 1:1
Reciprocal: Job 9:34 - let not Job 13:24 - hidest thou Psalms 42:4 - When Psalms 51:12 - Restore Lamentations 1:7 - remembered
Cross-References
"Are things well with him?" Jacob continued. "Very well," they said. "And here is his daughter Rachel coming with the flock."
Jacob said, "There's a lot of daylight still left; it isn't time to round up the sheep yet, is it? So why not water the flocks and go back to grazing?"
Now Laban had two daughters; Leah was the older and Rachel the younger. Leah had nice eyes, but Rachel was stunningly beautiful. And it was Rachel that Jacob loved. So Jacob answered, "I will work for you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel."
The Servants of God Immediately I saw Four Angels standing at the four corners of earth, standing steady with a firm grip on the four winds so no wind would blow on earth or sea, not even rustle a tree. Then I saw another Angel rising from where the sun rose, carrying the seal of the Living God. He thundered to the Four Angels assigned the task of hurting earth and sea, "Don't hurt the earth! Don't hurt the sea! Don't so much as hurt a tree until I've sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads!" I heard the count of those who were sealed: 144,000! They were sealed out of every Tribe of Israel: 12,000 sealed from Judah, 12,000 from Reuben, 12,000 from Gad, 12,000 from Asher, 12,000 from Naphtali, 12,000 from Manasseh, 12,000 from Simeon, 12,000 from Levi, 12,000 from Issachar, 12,000 from Zebulun, 12,000 from Joseph, 12,000 sealed from Benjamin. I looked again. I saw a huge crowd, too huge to count. Everyone was there—all nations and tribes, all races and languages. And they were standing, dressed in white robes and waving palm branches, standing before the Throne and the Lamb and heartily singing: Salvation to our God on his Throne! Salvation to the Lamb! All who were standing around the Throne—Angels, Elders, Animals—fell on their faces before the Throne and worshiped God, singing: Oh, Yes! The blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving, The honor and power and strength, To our God forever and ever and ever! Oh, Yes! Just then one of the Elders addressed me: "Who are these dressed in white robes, and where did they come from?" Taken aback, I said, "O Sir, I have no idea—but you must know." Then he told me, "These are those who come from the great tribulation, and they've washed their robes, scrubbed them clean in the blood of the Lamb. That's why they're standing before God's Throne. They serve him day and night in his Temple. The One on the Throne will pitch his tent there for them: no more hunger, no more thirst, no more scorching heat. The Lamb on the Throne will shepherd them, will lead them to spring waters of Life. And God will wipe every last tear from their eyes."
Gill's Notes on the Bible
Oh that I were as [in] months past,.... Which is either an earnest wish for restoration to his former state of outward prosperity; which he might desire, not through impatience and discontent under his present circumstances, or from a carnal and worldly spirit; but either that the present reproach he lay under from his friends might be taken off, he observing that they accounted him a wicked man and an hypocrite, because of his afflictions; wherefore he judged, if these were removed, and he was in as prosperous a condition and in as good circumstances as before, they would entertain a different opinion of him; or, that his words might be better attended to, as they were by men, both young and old, and even princes and nobles before, it being a common case, that what a poor and distressed man says is not regarded; or that he might be in a capacity of doing good to the poor and fatherless, the widow and the oppressed, as he had formerly; or, this wish is only made to introduce the account of his former life, by which it would appear, that he was not the man his friends had represented him to be, from the favour he was in with God, and from the respect shown him by men, and the many good things done by him: but since, by various expressions, which before had dropped from his lips, it appears, that he had no hope nor expectation of ever being restored to his former outward happiness; this may be considered as a wish for the return of spiritual prosperity, wishing he was in as good frames of soul, and as much in the exercise of grace, and was as holy, as humble, as spiritual, and heavenly minded, as he was when he had so much of the world about him; and that he had but the like communion with God, and his gracious presence with him, as he had then. The state of the Lord's people, God-ward, is always the same; his election of them stands sure; the covenant of grace with them is unalterable; their interest in a living Redeemer always continues; grace in them is a principle, permanent and perpetual; but there may be, and often is, an alteration in their frames, and in the exercise of their graces, and in the open regard of God unto them; their graces may be low in exercise; there may be a decay of the life and power of godliness; their frames may change, and the presence of God may be withdrawn from them, and they may have no view of interest in salvation, at least not have the joys of it; wherefore, when sensible of all this, may be desirous it might be with them as it was before; that God would turn them again, and cause his face to shine upon them, that they might be comfortable; the particulars of Job's former case follow, which he desires a renewal of:
as [in] the days [when] God preserved me; either in a temporal sense; God having set an hedge of special providence about him, whereby he and his, his family and substance, were remarkably preserved; but now this was plucked up, and all were exposed to ravage and ruin; or in a spiritual sense, as he was both secretly and openly preserved, and as all the Lord's people are, in Christ, and in his hands, and by his power, spirit, and grace: the Lord preserves their souls from the evil of their own hearts, sin that dwells in them, that it shall not have the dominion over them; from the evil that is in the world, that they shall not be overcome by it, and carried away with if; and from the temptations of Satan, so as not to be devoured and destroyed by him, and from a final and total falling away; he preserves them in his own ways, safe to his kingdom and glory; but sometimes all this does not appear so evident unto them, as it might not to Job at this time; who observed the workings of his corruption, and the breaking out of them, in passionate words, wishes, and curses, and the temptations of Satan, who was busy with him to go further lengths, even to blaspheme and curse God; so that he might fear that God his defence was departed from him, the return of which he was desirous of; see Isaiah 49:14.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
Oh that I were - Hebrew “Who will give?” a common mode of expressing a wish; compare Job 6:8; Job 11:5; Job 13:5; Job 23:3.
As in months past - O that I could recall my former prosperity, and be as was when I enjoyed the protection and favor of God. Probably one object of this wish was that his friends might see from what a state of honor and happiness he had been brought down. They complained of him as impatient. He may have designed to show them that his lamentations were not unreasonable, when it was borne in mind from what a state of prosperity he had been taken, and to what a condition of wo he had been brought. He, therefore, goes into this extended description of his former happiness, and dwells particularly upon the good which he was enabled then to do, and the respect which was shown him as a public benefactor. A passage strikingly similar to this occurs in Virgil, Aeneid viii. 560:
O mihi praeteritos referat si Jupiter annos!
Quails eram, cum primam aciem Praeneste sub ipsa
Stravi, scutorumque incendi victor acervos.
“O would kind heaven my strength and youth recall,
Such as I was beneath Praeneste’s wall;
There where I made the foremost foes retire,
And set whole heaps of conquered shields on fire!”
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Job 29:2. O that I were as in months past — Job seems here to make an apology for his complaints, by taking a view of his former prosperity, which was very great, but was now entirely at an end. He shows that it was not removed because of any bad use he had made of it; and describes how he behaved himself before God and man, and how much, for justice, benevolence, and mercy, he was esteemed and honoured by the wise and good.
Preserved me — Kept, guarded, and watched over me.
