Job 33
1 “But now, Job, listen to my words; pay attention to everything I say.
2 I have opened my mouth; my tongue speaks within my palate.
3 My words come from the uprightness of my heart; my lips speak clearly what they know.
4 The spirit of God made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
5 If you can, answer me; take your stand before me and be ready.
6 Look, before God I am just like you; I too was formed from clay.
7 Look, my terror will not frighten you, and my hand will not weigh heavily on you.
8 But you spoke in my hearing, and I heard the sound of your words:
9 ‘I am pure, without transgression; I am clean, and there is no guilt in me.
10 But he finds reasons against me; he considers me his enemy.
11 He puts my feet in the stocks; he watches all my paths.’”
12 “In this you are not right, and I answer you: God is greater than any human being.
13 Why do you contend with him, since he answers none of your words?
14 For God speaks in one way, then in another, though no one perceives it.
15 In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on people as they doze in their beds,
16 then he opens people’s ears and seals the instruction he gives them,
17 to turn a person away from wrongdoing and keep pride from a man.
18 He keeps that person’s life from the pit, and his existence from passing into the realm of death.
19 A person is corrected with pain on his bed, with unceasing pain in his many bones.
20 His life loathes bread, and his appetite, his favorite food.
21 His flesh wastes away until it can no longer be seen, and the bones that were hidden are exposed.
22 His life draws near to the pit, and his existence to those who bring death.”
23 “There may be an angel beside him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to tell a person what is right.
24 Then the angel is gracious to him and says, ‘Spare him from going down to the pit; I have found a ransom.’
25 His flesh becomes fresher than in youth; he returns to the days of his prime.
26 He prays to God, who accepts him; he sees God’s face with shouts of joy, and God restores the person’s righteousness.
27 He sings before others and says, ‘I sinned, I twisted what was right, and it did me no good.’
28 God has ransomed his life from passing into the pit, and his existence will see the light.
29 Look, God does all these things with a man two or three times,
30 to bring his life back from the pit, to light him with the light of the living.
31 Pay attention, Job; listen to me. Be silent, and I will speak.
32 If you have something to say, answer me; speak, for I want to declare you righteous.
33 If not, listen to me; be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.”
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