Job 33

1But now, Job, please hear my words, and listen to everything I say.

2Look, I have opened my mouth; my tongue has spoken in my palate.

3My words come from an upright heart, and my lips speak plainly what I know.

4The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

5If you are able, answer me; set your case in order before me; take your stand.

6Look, before God I am like you; I too was pinched from clay.

7Look, my terror will not frighten you, and my pressure on you will not be heavy.

8Surely you have spoken in my hearing, and I have heard the sound of your words:

9‘I am pure, without transgression; I am clean, and there is no iniquity in me.’

10Look, he finds grounds for hostility against me; he counts me as his enemy.

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

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

13Why do you contend against him, saying that he does not answer all your words?

14For God speaks once, even twice, though no one perceives it.

15In a dream, a vision in the night, when deep sleep falls on people as they slumber on their beds,

16then he opens people’s ears and impresses a warning on them.

17to turn a person from his deed, and to hide pride from him,

18He keeps his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the weapon.

19He is also reproved with pain on his bed, and with continual strife in his bones,

20so that he loathes bread and has no appetite for desirable food.

21His flesh wastes away from sight, and his bones, once unseen, stick out.

22His soul draws near to the pit, and his life to those who bring death.

23If there is for him an angel, a mediator, one among a thousand, to tell a man what is right for him,

24then he is gracious to him and says, “Deliver him from going down to the pit; I have found a ransom.”

25His flesh becomes fresher than a child’s; he returns to the days of his youth.

26He prays to God, and God accepts him; he sees God’s face with a shout of joy, and God restores his righteousness to him.

27He sings before men and says, ‘I have sinned and twisted what was right, and it was not repaid to me.’

28He has redeemed my soul from passing into the pit, and my life will see the light.

29Look, God does all these things two or three times with a man,

30to bring back his soul from the pit, so that the light of life may shine on him.

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

32If you have something to say, answer me; speak, for I want to declare you right.

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