Job 33

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

2Look, I have opened my mouth; the tongue in my mouth is speaking.

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

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

5Answer me if you can; set out your case before me and take your stand.

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

7Look, no terror of me should frighten you, and my pressure will not weigh heavily on you.

8But 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 guilt in me.

10Look, God finds pretexts 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 any mortal.

13Why do you bring a complaint against him, that he does not answer any of a person’s words?

14For God does speak, once, and twice, though no one notices it.

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

16then he opens people’s ears and seals their warning,

17to turn a person away from what he is doing and to keep a man from pride.

18He holds back his soul from the pit, his life from perishing by the sword.

19A person is also disciplined with pain on his bed, with unceasing pain in all his bones,

20so that his life loathes food, and his appetite the choicest meal.

21His flesh wastes away until it cannot be seen, and his bones, once hidden, stick out.

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

23If there is an angel beside him, a mediator, one out of a thousand, to tell a person what is right for him,

24and he is gracious to him and says, ‘Spare him from going down to the pit; I have found a ransom,’

25then his 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 shouts of joy, and God restores to that person his righteousness.

27He sings before others and says, ‘I sinned and perverted what was right, but I was not repaid as I deserved.’

28God has redeemed his soul from going down into the pit, and his life will see the light.

29Look, God does all these things, twice, three times with a person,

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

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

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

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