Job
33
- "But now, Job, listen to my words;
pay attention to everything I say.
- I am about to open my mouth; my words are
on the tip of my tongue.
- My words come from an upright heart; my
lips sincerely speak what I know.
- The Spirit of God has made me; the breath
of the Almighty gives me life.
- Answer me then, if you can; prepare yourself
and confront me.
- I am just like you before God; I too have
been taken from clay.
- No fear of me should alarm you, nor should
my hand be heavy upon you.
- "But you have said in my hearing --
I heard the very words --
- 'I am pure and without sin; I am clean and
free from guilt.
- Yet God has found fault with me; he considers
me his enemy.
- He fastens my feet in shackles; he keeps
close watch on all my paths.'
- "But I tell you, in this you are not
right, for God is greater than man.
- Why do you complain to him that he answers
none of man's words ?
- For God does speak -- now one way, now another
-- though man may not perceive it.
- In a dream, in a vision of the night, when
deep sleep falls on men as they slumber in their beds,
- he may speak in their ears and terrify them
with warnings,
- to turn man from wrongdoing and keep him
from pride,
- to preserve his soul from the pit, his life
from perishing by the sword.
- Or a man may be chastened on a bed of pain
with constant distress in his bones,
- so that his very being finds food repulsive
and his soul loathes the choicest meal.
- His flesh wastes away to nothing, and his
bones, once hidden, now stick out.
- His soul draws near to the pit, and his
life to the messengers of death.
- "Yet if there is an angel on his side
as a mediator, one out of a thousand, to tell a man what is right for him,
- to be gracious to him and say, 'Spare him
from going down to the pit; I have found a ransom for him' --
- then his flesh is renewed like a child's;
it is restored as in the days of his youth.
- He prays to God and finds favor with him,
he sees God's face and shouts for joy; he is restored by God to his righteous
state.
- Then he comes to men and says, 'I sinned,
and perverted what was right, but I did not get what I deserved.
- He redeemed my soul from going down to the
pit, and I will live to enjoy the light.'
- "God does all these things to a man
-- twice, even three times --
- to turn back his soul from the pit, that
the light of life may shine on him.
- "Pay attention, Job, and listen to
me; be silent, and I will speak.
- If you have anything to say, answer me;
speak up, for I want you to be cleared.
- But if not, then listen to me; be silent,
and I will teach you wisdom."
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