Job 33
1 “But now, Job, listen carefully to all that I am going to say [DOU].
Hear therefore, O Job, my speeches, and hearken to all my words.
2 I am ready to tell you [MTY, DOU] [what I think].
Behold now I have opened my mouth, let my tongue speak within my jaws.
3 I know that I am speaking honestly and that I am speaking [MTY] sincerely.
My words are from my upright heart, and my lips shall speak a pure sentence.
4 Almighty God has created me [as well as you], and his breath has caused me to live.
The spirit of God made me, and the breath of the Almighty gave me life.
5 So, answer [what] I [say] if you can; think carefully [about how you will reply to me].
If thou canst, answer me, and stand up against my face.
6 “God considers that you, and I are both [equal]; he formed both of us from clay.
Behold God hath made me as well as thee, and of the same clay I also was formed.
7 So you do not need to be afraid of me; I will not crush/oppress you [by what I say] [MTY].
But yet let not my wonder terrify thee, and let not my eloquence be burdensome to thee.
8 I have heard you [DOU] speaking, and this is what you have said:
Now thou has said in my hearing, and I have heard the voice of thy words:
9 ‘I am innocent; I have not committed any sins; I am pure; I have not done things that are wrong.
I am clean, and without sin: I am unspotted, and there is no iniquity in me.
10 But God finds reasons to accuse me, and he considers that I am his enemy.
Because he hath found complaints against me, therefore he hath counted me for 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 hath put my feet in the stocks, he hath observed 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.
Now this is the thing in which thou art not justified: I will answer thee, that 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]
Dost thou strive against him, because he hath not answered thee to all words?
14 God does speak [to us] in various ways, but we do not pay any attention to what he says.
God speaketh once, and repeateth not the selfsame thing the second time.
15 [Sometimes he speaks to us] at night in dreams and visions, when we are on our beds, asleep [DOU].
By a dream in a vision by night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, and they are sleeping in their beds:
16 He reveals things [MTY] to us and terrifies us by the things he warns us about.
Then he openeth the ears of men, and teaching instructeth them in what they are to learn.
17 He tell us those things in order that we stop doing [evil] things and to prevent us from becoming proud.
That he may withdraw a man from the things he is doing, and may deliver 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].
Rescuing his soul from corruption: and his life from passing to 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.
He rebuketh also by sorrow in the bed, and he maketh all his bones to wither.
20 The result is that we do not desire any food, not even very special food.
Bread becometh abominable to him in his life, and to his soul the meat which before he desired.
21 Our bodies become very thin, with the result that we look like skeletons [HYP], and our bones stick out.
His flesh shall be consumed away, and his bones that were covered shall be made bare.
22 [We know that] we will soon die and go to the place where dead people are.
His soul hath drawn near to corruption, and his life to the destroyers.
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].
If there shall be an angel speaking for him, one among thousands, to declare man’s uprightness,
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!
He shall have mercy on him, and shall say: Deliver him, that he may not go down to corruption: I have found wherein I may be merciful to him.
25 Allow his body to be strong again; allow him to be strong like he was when he was a youth!’
His flesh is consumed with punishment, let him return 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 shall pray to God, and he will be gracious to him: and he shall see his face with joy, and he will render to man his justice.
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.
He shall look upon men, and shall say: I have sinned, and indeed I have offended, and I have not received what I have 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 hath delivered his soul from going into destruction, that it may live and see the light.
29 God does all these things for us many times;
Behold, all these things God worketh three times within every one.
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].
That he may withdraw their souls from corruption, and enlighten them with the light of the living.
31 So Job, listen to me; do not say anything more; just allow me to speak.
Attend, Job, and hearken to me: and hold thy peace, whilst I 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 thou hast any thing to say, answer me, speak: for I would have thee to appear just.
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.”
And if thou have not, hear me: hold thy peace, and I will teach thee wisdom.
