Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G MessageI chose their path and sat enthroned as their chief; I lived among them like a king at the head of his forces—and yet like a tender comforter among those in grief.
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.GI chose their course and sat as their head; I dwelt among them as a king among his troops—as one who brings comfort to mourners.
KJV
King James VersionI chose out their way, and sat chief, and dwelt as a king in the army, as one that comforteth the mourners.
BSB
Berean Standard BibleI chose their course and presided as chief. So I dwelt as a king among his troops, as a comforter of the mourners.
Footnotes
The chapter closes with a convergence that is almost paradoxical: Job was simultaneously מֶלֶךְ (*melech*—king, supreme authority) and comforter of אֲבֵלִים (*avelim*—mourners, the grief-struck). Kingship is authority and command; comforting mourners is descent and vulnerability. That these co-inhabit the same man is not incidental—it is precisely the portrait of the anointed Servant-King: the one who rules and weeps, whose sceptre does not preclude the tear (cf. Isa. 61:1–3, where the anointed one is sent to 'comfort all who mourn'). Job's self-portrait, though not consciously Messianic, inadvertently sketches the leader the world most needs—authority exercised as tenderness toward the broken.