Job 33

1But now, Job, please listen to what I say; pay attention to all my words. 2Look, I have opened my mouth; my tongue is forming words in my mouth. 3My words come from an upright heart, and my lips speak what I know sincerely. 4The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life. 5Answer me if you can; prepare your case before me and take your stand. 6Look, before God I am just as you are; I too was shaped from clay. 7So no fear of me need terrify you, and my pressure will not weigh heavily on you. 8You have surely spoken in my hearing, and I have heard the sound of your words: 9I am pure, without transgression; I am clean, and there is no guilt in me. 10Yet God finds reasons to oppose me; he counts me as his enemy. 11He puts my feet in the stocks; he watches all my paths. 12But in this you are not right, I tell you, for God is greater than any human. 13Why do you complain against him that he answers none of a person’s words? 14For God speaks in one way, and in another, though people do not notice 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 seals his warning upon them, 17to turn people away from what they are doing and keep them from pride. 18He spares them from the pit, their life from perishing by the sword. 19People are also corrected by pain on their beds, with constant aching in all their bones. 20They come to loathe food, even the food they most enjoy. 21Their flesh wastes away until it can hardly be seen, and their bones, once hidden, stick out. 22They draw near to the pit, their life to those who bring death. 23If there is an angel beside them, a mediator, one out of a thousand, to tell them what is right for them, 24and he is gracious to them and says, Spare them from going down to the pit; I have found a ransom. 25Their flesh becomes fresher than a child’s; they return to the days of their youthful strength. 26They pray to God, and he accepts them; they see his face with shouts of joy, and he restores them to righteousness. 27Then they sing before others and say, I sinned and twisted what was right, but I was not repaid as I deserved. 28God has redeemed them from going down to the pit, and they will live to see the light. 29Look, God does all these things two or three times with a person, 30to bring them back from the pit, so that the light of life may shine on them. 31Pay attention, Job, and listen to me; be quiet, and I will speak. 32If you have anything to say, answer me; speak, for I want to see you proved right. 33If not, then listen to me; be quiet, and I will teach you wisdom.