Job 33
1 “But now, Job, listen carefully to all that I am going to say [DOU].
“But now, O Job, hear my speech, and listen to all my words.
2 I am ready to tell you [MTY, DOU] [what I think].
Behold, I will open my mouth; my address is on the tip of my tongue.
3 I know that I am speaking honestly and that I am speaking [MTY] sincerely.
My words are from an upright heart, and my lips speak sincerely what I know.
4 Almighty God has created me [as well as you], and his breath has caused me to live.
The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
5 So, answer [what] I [say] if you can; think carefully [about how you will reply to me].
Refute me if you can; prepare your case and confront me.
6 “God considers that you, and I are both [equal]; he formed both of us from clay.
I am just like you before God; I was also formed from clay.
7 So you do not need to be afraid of me; I will not crush/oppress you [by what I say] [MTY].
Surely no fear of me should terrify you; nor will my hand be heavy upon you.
8 I have heard you [DOU] speaking, and this is what you have said:
Surely you have spoken in my hearing, and I have heard these very words:
9 ‘I am innocent; I have not committed any sins; I am pure; I have not done things that are wrong.
‘I am pure, without transgression; I am clean, with no iniquity in me.
10 But God finds reasons to accuse me, and he considers that I am his enemy.
Yet God finds occasions against me; He counts me as His enemy.
11 [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]
He puts my feet in the stocks; He watches over all my paths.’
12 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.
Behold, you are not right in this matter. I will answer you, for God is greater than man.
13 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]
Why do you complain to Him that He answers nothing a man asks?
14 God does speak [to us] in various ways, but we do not pay any attention to what he says.
For God speaks in one way and in another, yet no one notices.
15 [Sometimes he speaks to us] at night in dreams and visions, when we are on our beds, asleep [DOU].
In a dream, in a vision in the night, when deep sleep falls upon men as they slumber on their beds,
16 He reveals things [MTY] to us and terrifies us by the things he warns us about.
He opens their ears and terrifies them with warnings
17 He tell us those things in order that we stop doing [evil] things and to prevent us from becoming proud.
to turn a man from wrongdoing and keep him from pride,
18 He does not want us to be destroyed [MTY]; he wants to prevent us from dying [MTY] [while we are still young].
to preserve his soul from the Pit and his life from perishing by the sword.
19 God also [sometimes] corrects us by forcing us to lie on our beds suffering much pain and with fever/aching in our bones.
A man is also chastened on his bed with pain and constant distress in his bones,
20 The result is that we do not desire any food, not even very special food.
so that he detests his bread, and his soul loathes his favorite food.
21 Our bodies become very thin, with the result that we look like skeletons [HYP], and our bones stick out.
His flesh wastes away from sight, and his hidden bones protrude.
22 [We know that] we will soon die and go to the place where dead people are.
He draws near to the Pit, and his life to the messengers of death.
23 “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].
Yet if there is a messenger on his side, one mediator in a thousand, to tell a man what is right for him,
24 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!
to be gracious to him and say, ‘Spare him from going down to the Pit; I have found his ransom,’
25 Allow his body to be strong again; allow him to be strong like he was when he was a youth!’
then his flesh is refreshed like a child’s; he returns to the days of his youth.
26 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].
He prays to God and finds favor; he sees God’s face and shouts for joy, and God restores His righteousness to that man.
27 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.
Then he sings before men with these words: ‘I have sinned and perverted what was right; yet I did not get what I deserved.
28 He has saved me from dying and going to the place where dead people are, and I will continue to enjoy being alive.’
He redeemed my soul from going down to the Pit, and I will live to see the light.’
29 God does all these things for us many times;
Behold, all these things God does to a man, two or even three times,
30 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].
to bring back his soul from the Pit, that he may be enlightened with the light of life.
31 So Job, listen to me; do not say anything more; just allow me to speak.
Pay attention, Job, and listen to me; be silent, and I will speak.
32 [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).
But if you have something to say, answer me; speak up, for I would like to vindicate you.
33 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.”
But if not, then listen to me; be quiet, and I will teach you wisdom.”
