Job 33

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¹So now, Job, I beg you, hear my speech; listen to all my words.

²See now, I have opened my mouth; my tongue has spoken in my mouth.

³My words come from the uprightness of my heart; my lips speak pure knowledge.

⁴The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty has given me life.

⁵If you can, answer me; set your words in order before me and stand up.

⁶See, I am just as you are in God's sight; I also have been formed out of the clay.

⁷See, terror of me will not make you afraid; neither will my pressure be heavy upon you.

⁸You have certainly spoken in my hearing; I have heard the sound of your words saying,

⁹'I am clean and without transgression; I am innocent, and there is no sin in me.

¹⁰See, God finds opportunities to attack me; he regards me as his enemy.

¹¹He puts my feet in stocks; he watches all my paths.'

¹²See, in this you are not right—I will answer you, for God is greater than man.

¹³Why do you struggle against him? He does not account for any of his doings.

¹⁴For God speaks once— yes, twice, though man does not notice it.

¹⁵In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls upon men, in slumber on the bed—

¹⁶then God opens the ears of men, and frightens them with threats,

¹⁷in order to pull man back from his sinful purposes, and keep pride from him.

¹⁸God keeps man's life back from the pit, his life from crossing over to death.

¹⁹Man is punished also with pain on his bed, with constant agony in his bones,

²⁰so that his life abhors food, and his soul abhors delicacies.

²¹His flesh is consumed away so that it cannot be seen; his bones, once not seen, now stick out.

²²Indeed, his soul draws close to the pit, his life to those who wish to destroy it.

²³But if there is an angel who can be a mediator for him, a mediator, one from among the thousands of angels, to show him what is right to do,

²⁴and if the angel is kind to him and says to God, 'Save this person from going down to the pit; I have found a ransom for him,'

²⁵then his flesh will become fresher than a child's; he will return to the days of his youthful strength.

²⁶He will pray to God, and God will be kind to him, so that he sees God's face with joy. God will give the person his triumph.

²⁷Then that person will sing in front of other people and say, 'I sinned and perverted that which was right, but my sin was not punished.

²⁸God has rescued my soul from going down into the pit; my life will continue to see light.'

²⁹See, God does all these things with a person, twice, yes, even three times,

³⁰to bring his soul back from the pit, so that he may be enlightened with the light of life.

³¹Pay attention, Job, and listen to me; be silent and I will speak.

³²If you have anything to say, answer me; speak, for I wish to prove that you are in the right.

³³If not, then listen to me; remain silent, and I will teach you wisdom.”