Job 33

¹“But now, Job, listen to my words;

pay attention to everything I say.

²I am about to open my mouth;

my words are on the tip of my tongue.

³My words come from an upright heart;

my lips sincerely speak what I know.

⁴The Spirit of God has made me;

the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

⁵Answer me then, if you can;

stand up and argue your case before me.

⁶I am the same as you in God’s sight;

I too am a piece of clay.

⁷No fear of me should alarm you,

nor should my hand be heavy on you.

⁸“But you have said in my hearing—

I heard the very words—

⁹‘I am pure, I have done no wrong;

I am clean and free from sin.

¹⁰Yet God has found fault with me;

he considers me his enemy.

¹¹He fastens my feet in shackles;

he keeps close watch on all my paths.’

¹²“But I tell you, in this you are not right,

for God is greater than any mortal.

¹³Why do you complain to him

that he responds to no one’s words?

¹⁴For God does speak—now one way, now another—

though no one perceives it.

¹⁵In a dream, in a vision of the night,

when deep sleep falls on people

as they slumber in their beds,

¹⁶he may speak in their ears

and terrify them with warnings,

¹⁷to turn them from wrongdoing

and keep them from pride,

¹⁸to preserve them from the pit,

their lives from perishing by the sword.

¹⁹“Or someone may be chastened on a bed of pain

with constant distress in their bones,

²⁰so that their body finds food repulsive

and their soul loathes the choicest meal.

²¹Their flesh wastes away to nothing,

and their bones, once hidden, now stick out.

²²They draw near to the pit,

and their life to the messengers of death.

²³Yet if there is an angel at their side,

a messenger, one out of a thousand,

sent to tell them how to be upright,

²⁴and he is gracious to that person and says to God,

‘Spare them from going down to the pit;

I have found a ransom for them—

²⁵let their flesh be renewed like a child’s;

let them be restored as in the days of their youth’—

²⁶then that person can pray to God and find favor with him,

they will see God’s face and shout for joy;

he will restore them to full well-being.

²⁷And they will go to others and say,

‘I have sinned, I have perverted what is right,

but I did not get what I deserved.

²⁸God has delivered me from going down to the pit,

and I shall live to enjoy the light of life.’

²⁹“God does all these things to a person—

twice, even three times—

³⁰to turn them back from the pit,

that the light of life may shine on them.

³¹“Pay attention, Job, and listen to me;

be silent, and I will speak.

³²If you have anything to say, answer me;

speak up, for I want to vindicate you.

³³But if not, then listen to me;

be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.”