Job 33

Job 33

33 “But now, Job, listen to my words;

pay attention to everything I say.

² I am about to open my mouth;

my words are on the tip of my tongue.

³ My words come from an upright heart;

my lips sincerely speak what I know.

⁴ The Spirit of God has made me;

the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

⁵ Answer me then, if you can;

stand up and argue your case before me.

⁶ I am the same as you in God’s sight;

I too am a piece of clay.

⁷ No 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.

¹⁰ Yet God has found fault with me;

he considers me his enemy.

¹¹ He 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.

¹³ Why do you complain to him

that he responds to no one’s words^[a]?

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

though no one perceives it.

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

when deep sleep falls on people

as they slumber in their beds,

¹⁶ he may speak in their ears

and terrify them with warnings,

¹⁷ to turn them from wrongdoing

and keep them from pride,

¹⁸ to preserve them from the pit,

their lives from perishing by the sword.^[b]

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

with constant distress in their bones,

²⁰ so that their body finds food repulsive

and their soul loathes the choicest meal.

²¹ Their flesh wastes away to nothing,

and their bones, once hidden, now stick out.

²² They draw near to the pit,

and their life to the messengers of death.^[c]

²³ Yet if there is an angel at their side,

a messenger, one out of a thousand,

sent to tell them how to be upright,

²⁴ and 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—

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

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

²⁶ then 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.

²⁷ And they will go to others and say,

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

but I did not get what I deserved.

²⁸ God 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—

³⁰ to 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.

³² If you have anything to say, answer me;

speak up, for I want to vindicate you.

³³ But if not, then listen to me;

be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.”