Job 33

¹“But now, hear my speech, O Job,

and listen to all my words.

²See, I open my mouth;

the tongue in my mouth speaks.

³My words declare the uprightness of my heart,

and what my lips know they speak sincerely.

⁴The spirit of God has made me,

and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

⁵Answer me, if you can;

set your words in order before me; take your stand.

⁶See, before God I am as you are;

I too was formed from a piece of clay.

⁷No fear of me need terrify you;

my pressure will not be heavy on you.

⁸“Surely, you have spoken in my hearing,

and I have heard the sound of your words.

⁹You say, ‘I am clean, without transgression;

I am pure, and there is no iniquity in me.

¹⁰Look, he finds occasions against me,

he counts me as his enemy;

¹¹he puts my feet in the stocks,

and watches all my paths.’

¹²“But in this you are not right. I will answer you:

God is greater than any mortal.

¹³Why do you contend against him,

saying, ‘He will answer none of my words’?

¹⁴For God speaks in one way,

and in two, though people do not perceive it.

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

when deep sleep falls on mortals,

while they slumber on their beds,

¹⁶then he opens their ears,

and terrifies them with warnings,

¹⁷that he may turn them aside from their deeds,

and keep them from pride,

¹⁸to spare their souls from the Pit,

their lives from traversing the River.

¹⁹They are also chastened with pain upon their beds,

and with continual strife in their bones,

²⁰so that their lives loathe bread,

and their appetites dainty food.

²¹Their flesh is so wasted away that it cannot be seen;

and their bones, once invisible, now stick out.

²²Their souls draw near the Pit,

and their lives to those who bring death.

²³Then, if there should be for one of them an angel,

a mediator, one of a thousand,

one who declares a person upright,

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

‘Deliver him from going down into the Pit;

I have found a ransom;

²⁵let his flesh become fresh with youth;

let him return to the days of his youthful vigor’;

²⁶then he prays to God, and is accepted by him,

he comes into his presence with joy,

and God repays him for his righteousness.

²⁷That person sings to others and says,

‘I sinned, and perverted what was right,

and it was not paid back to me.

²⁸He has redeemed my soul from going down to the Pit,

and my life shall see the light.’

²⁹“God indeed does all these things,

twice, three times, with mortals,

³⁰to bring back their souls from the Pit,

so that they may see the light of life.

³¹Pay heed, Job, listen to me;

be silent, and I will speak.

³²If you have anything to say, answer me;

speak, for I desire to justify you.

³³If not, listen to me;

be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.”