Job 33:1–33

¹“Now, however, O Job, please hear my words,
And to all my speaking do give ear.

²Look, please! I have to open my mouth;
My tongue with my palate has to speak.

³My sayings are the uprightness of my heart,
And knowledge is what my lips do utter sincerely.

⁴God’s own spirit made me,
And the Almighty’s own breath proceeded to bring me to life.

⁵If you are able, make reply to me,
Array [words] before me; do take your station.

⁶Look! I am to the [true] God just what you are;
From the clay I was shaped, I too.

⁷Look! No frightfulness in me will terrify you,
And no pressure by me will be heavy upon you.

⁸Only you have said in my ears,
And the sound of [your] words I kept hearing,
⁹‘I am pure without transgression;
Clean I am, and I have no error.

¹⁰Look! Occasions for opposition to me he finds,
He takes me for an enemy of his.

¹¹He puts my feet in the stocks,
He watches all my paths.’

¹²Look! In this you have not been in the right, I answer you;
For God is much more than mortal man.

¹³Why is it against him that you contended,
Because all your words he does not answer?

¹⁴For God speaks once,
And twice—though one does not regard it—
¹⁵In a dream, a vision of the night,
When deep sleep falls upon men,
During slumbers upon the bed.

¹⁶It is then that he uncovers the ear of men,
And on exhortation to them he puts his seal,
¹⁷To turn aside a man from his deed,
And that he may cover pride itself from an able‐bodied man.

¹⁸He keeps his soul back from the pit
And his life from passing away by a missile.

¹⁹And he is actually reproved with pain upon his bed,
And the quarreling of his bones is continual.

²⁰And his life certainly makes bread loathsome,
And his own soul desirable food.

²¹His flesh wastes away from sight,
And his bones that were not seen certainly grow bare.

²²And his soul draws near to the pit,
And his life to those inflicting death.

²³If there exists for him a messenger,
A spokesman, one out of a thousand,
To tell to man his uprightness,
²⁴Then he favors him and says,
‘Let him off from going down into the pit!
I have found a ransom!

²⁵Let his flesh become fresher than in youth;
Let him return to the days of his youthful vigor.’

²⁶He will make entreaty to God that he may take pleasure in him,
And he will see his face with joyful shouting,
And He will restore His righteousness to mortal man.

²⁷He will sing to men and say,
‘I have sinned; and what is upright I have perverted,
And it certainly was not the proper thing for me.

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

²⁹Look! All these things God performs,
Two times, three times, in the case of an able‐bodied man,
³⁰To turn his soul back from the pit,
That he may be enlightened with the light of those living.

³¹Pay attention, O Job! Listen to me!
Keep silent, and I myself shall continue speaking.

³²If there are any words [to say], make reply to me;
Speak, for I have taken delight in your righteousness.

³³If there are none, you yourself listen to me;
Keep silent, and I shall teach you wisdom.”