【Job】Chapter 33 << Last Chapter Next Chapter >>

33:1 Therefore, O Job, hear my discourse, and hearken to all my words.

33:2 Behold, now I open my mouth; my tongue and my voice form words.

33:3 I will state directly what is in my mind, my lips shall utter knowledge sincerely;

33:4 For the spirit of God has made me, the breath of the Almighty keeps me alive.

33:5 If you are able, refute me; draw up your arguments and stand forth.

33:6 Behold I, like yourself, have been taken from the same clay by God.

33:7 Therefore no fear of me should dismay you, nor should my presence weigh heavily upon you.

33:8 But you have said in my hearing, as I listened to the sound of your words:

33:9 "I am clean and without transgression; I am innocent; there is no guilt in me.

33:10 Yet he invents pretexts against me and reckons me as his enemy.

33:11 He puts my feet in the stocks; he watches all my ways!"

33:12 In this you are not just, let me tell you; for God is greater than man.

33:13 Why, then, do you make complaint against him that he gives no account of his doings?

33:14 For God does speak, perhaps once, or even twice, though one perceive it not.

33:15 In a dream, in a vision of the night, (when deep sleep falls upon men) as they slumber in their beds,

33:16 It is then he opens the ears of men and as a warning to them, terrifies them;

33:17 By turning man from evil and keeping pride away from him,

33:18 He withholds his soul from the pit and his life from passing to the grave.

33:19 Or a man is chastened on his bed by pain and unceasing suffering within his frame,

33:20 So that to his appetite food becomes repulsive, and his senses reject the choicest nourishment.

33:21 His flesh is wasted so that it cannot be seen, and his bones, once invisible, appear;

33:22 His soul draws near to the pit, his life to the place of the dead.

33:23 If then there be for him an angel, one out of a thousand, a mediator, To show him what is right for him and bring the man back to justice,

33:24 He will take pity on him and say, "Deliver him from going down to the pit; I have found him a ransom."

33:25 Then his flesh shall become soft as a boy’s; he shall be again as in the days of his youth.

33:26 He shall pray and God will favor him; he shall see God’s face with rejoicing.

33:27 He shall sing before men and say, "I sinned and did wrong, yet he has not punished me accordingly.

33:28 He delivered my soul from passing to the pit, and I behold the light of life."

33:29 Lo, all these things God does, twice, or thrice, for a man,

33:30 Bringing back his soul from the pit to the light, in the land of the living.

33:31 Be attentive, O Job; listen to me! Be silent and I will speak.

33:32 If you have aught to say, then answer me. Speak out! I should like to see you justified.

33:33 If not, then do you listen to me; be silent while I teach you wisdom.

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