Job 33
1 “But now, O Job, hear my speech, and listen to all my words.
“But now, Job, listen carefully to all that I am going to say [DOU].
2 Behold, I will open my mouth; my address is on the tip of my tongue.
I am ready to tell you [MTY, DOU] [what I think].
3 My words are from an upright heart, and my lips speak sincerely what I know.
I know that I am speaking honestly and that I am speaking [MTY] sincerely.
4 The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
Almighty God has created me [as well as you], and his breath has caused me to live.
5 Refute me if you can; prepare your case and confront me.
So, answer [what] I [say] if you can; think carefully [about how you will reply to me].
6 I am just like you before God; I was also formed from clay.
“God considers that you, and I are both [equal]; he formed both of us from clay.
7 Surely no fear of me should terrify you; nor will my hand be heavy upon you.
So you do not need to be afraid of me; I will not crush/oppress you [by what I say] [MTY].
8 Surely you have spoken in my hearing, and I have heard these very words:
I have heard you [DOU] speaking, and this is what you have said:
9 ‘I am pure, without transgression; I am clean, with no iniquity in me.
‘I am innocent; I have not committed any sins; I am pure; I have not done things that are wrong.
10 Yet God finds occasions against me; He counts me as His enemy.
But God finds reasons to accuse me, and he considers that I am his enemy.
11 He puts my feet in the stocks; He watches over all my paths.’
[It is as though] he has put my feet (in stocks/between wooden blocks to prevent me from walking away), and he watches everything that I do.’ [MTY]
12 Behold, you are not right in this matter. I will answer you, for God is greater than man.
But what you have said is wrong, and I will tell you [what you have said that is wrong]. God is much greater than any human.
13 Why do you complain to Him that He answers nothing a man asks?
So, (why are you arguing against God, saying ‘He never answers my questions’?/you should not be arguing against God, saying ‘He never answers my questions.’) [RHQ]
14 For God speaks in one way and in another, yet no one notices.
God does speak [to us] in various ways, but we do not pay any attention to what he says.
15 In a dream, in a vision in the night, when deep sleep falls upon men as they slumber on their beds,
[Sometimes he speaks to us] at night in dreams and visions, when we are on our beds, asleep [DOU].
16 He opens their ears and terrifies them with warnings
He reveals things [MTY] to us and terrifies us by the things he warns us about.
17 to turn a man from wrongdoing and keep him from pride,
He tell us those things in order that we stop doing [evil] things and to prevent us from becoming proud.
18 to preserve his soul from the Pit and his life from perishing by the sword.
He does not want us to be destroyed [MTY]; he wants to prevent us from dying [MTY] [while we are still young].
19 A man is also chastened on his bed with pain and constant distress in his bones,
God also [sometimes] corrects us by forcing us to lie on our beds suffering much pain and with fever/aching in our bones.
20 so that he detests his bread, and his soul loathes his favorite food.
The result is that we do not desire any food, not even very special food.
21 His flesh wastes away from sight, and his hidden bones protrude.
Our bodies become very thin, with the result that we look like skeletons [HYP], and our bones stick out.
22 He draws near to the Pit, and his life to the messengers of death.
[We know that] we will soon die and go to the place where dead people are.
23 Yet if there is a messenger on his side, one mediator in a thousand, to tell a man what is right for him,
“But sometimes an angel [may come to one of us], one of the thousands of angels who come to intervene between us and God, to tell us what are the right things for us [to do].
24 to be gracious to him and say, ‘Spare him from going down to the Pit; I have found his ransom,’
The angel is kind to us and says to God, ‘Release that person, so that he does not descend to the place where dead people are! Do that because I have found the money to pay so that he can be released!
25 then his flesh is refreshed like a child’s; he returns to the days of his youth.
Allow his body to be strong again; allow him to be strong like he was when he was a youth!’
26 He prays to God and finds favor; he sees God’s face and shouts for joy, and God restores His righteousness to that man.
When that happens, that person will pray to God, and God will accept/answer him; he will (enter God’s presence/worship God) joyfully, and then he will tell others how God saved him [from dying].
27 Then he sings before men with these words: ‘I have sinned and perverted what was right; yet I did not get what I deserved.
He will sing as he tells everyone, ‘I sinned, and I did things that were not right, but God did not punish me in the way that I deserved.
28 He redeemed my soul from going down to the Pit, and I will live to see the light.’
He has saved me from dying and going to the place where dead people are, and I will continue to enjoy being alive.’
29 Behold, all these things God does to a man, two or even three times,
God does all these things for us many times;
30 to bring back his soul from the Pit, that he may be enlightened with the light of life.
he keeps us [SYN] from [dying and] going to the place where the dead are, in order that we can continue to enjoy being alive [IDM].
31 Pay attention, Job, and listen to me; be silent, and I will speak.
So Job, listen to me; do not say anything more; just allow me to speak.
32 But if you have something to say, answer me; speak up, for I would like to vindicate you.
[After I speak], if you have something more that you want to say to me, say it, because I would like to find a way to declare that you (are innocent/have not done what is wrong).
33 But if not, then listen to me; be quiet, and I will teach you wisdom.”
But if you have nothing more that you want to say, then just listen to me, and I will teach you how to become wise.”
