Job 33
1 So now, Job, I beg you, hear my speech; listen to all my words.
“But now, Job, listen carefully to all that I am going to say [DOU].
2 See now, I have opened my mouth; my tongue has spoken in my mouth.
I am ready to tell you [MTY, DOU] [what I think].
3 My words come from the uprightness of my heart; my lips speak pure knowledge.
I know that I am speaking honestly and that I am speaking [MTY] sincerely.
4 The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty has given me life.
Almighty God has created me [as well as you], and his breath has caused me to live.
5 If you can, answer me; set your words in order before me and stand up.
So, answer [what] I [say] if you can; think carefully [about how you will reply to me].
6 See, I am just as you are in God's sight; I also have been formed out of the clay.
“God considers that you, and I are both [equal]; he formed both of us from clay.
7 See, terror of me will not make you afraid; neither will my pressure 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 You have certainly spoken in my hearing; I have heard the sound of your words saying,
I have heard you [DOU] speaking, and this is what you have said:
9 'I am clean and without transgression; I am innocent, and there is no sin in me.
‘I am innocent; I have not committed any sins; I am pure; I have not done things that are wrong.
10 See, God finds opportunities to attack me; he regards 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 stocks; he watches 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 See, in this you are not right—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 struggle against him? He does not account for any of his doings.
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 once— yes, twice, though man does not notice it.
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 of the night, when deep sleep falls upon men, in slumber on the bed—
[Sometimes he speaks to us] at night in dreams and visions, when we are on our beds, asleep [DOU].
16 then God opens the ears of men, and frightens them with threats,
He reveals things [MTY] to us and terrifies us by the things he warns us about.
17 in order to pull man back from his sinful purposes, and keep pride from him.
He tell us those things in order that we stop doing [evil] things and to prevent us from becoming proud.
18 God keeps man's life back from the pit, his life from crossing over to death.
He does not want us to be destroyed [MTY]; he wants to prevent us from dying [MTY] [while we are still young].
19 Man is punished also with pain on his bed, with constant agony 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 his life abhors food, and his soul abhors delicacies.
The result is that we do not desire any food, not even very special food.
21 His flesh is consumed away so that it cannot be seen; his bones, once not seen, now stick out.
Our bodies become very thin, with the result that we look like skeletons [HYP], and our bones stick out.
22 Indeed, his soul draws close to the pit, his life to those who wish to destroy it.
[We know that] we will soon die and go to the place where dead people are.
23 But if there is an angel who can be a mediator for him, a mediator, one from among the thousands of angels, to show him what is right to do,
“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 and if the angel is kind to him and says to God, 'Save this person from going down to the pit; I have found a ransom for him,'
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 will become fresher than a child's; he will return to the days of his youthful strength.
Allow his body to be strong again; allow him to be strong like he was when he was a youth!’
26 He will pray to God, and God will be kind to him, so that he sees God's face with joy. God will give the person his triumph.
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 that person will sing in front of other people and say, 'I sinned and perverted that which was right, but my sin was not punished.
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 God has rescued my soul from going down into the pit; my life will continue to see 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 See, God does all these things with a person, twice, yes, even three times,
God does all these things for us many times;
30 to bring his soul back from the pit, so 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 If you have anything to say, answer me; speak, for I wish to prove that you are in the right.
[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 If not, then listen to me; remain silent, 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.”
