Job 33
1 Audi igitur, Job, eloquia mea, et omnes sermones meos ausculta.
Now listen to me, Job. Pay attention to everything I have to say.
2 Ecce aperui os meum: loquatur lingua mea in faucibus meis.
Look, I'm about to speak; my mouth is ready to talk.
3 Simplici corde meo sermones mei, et sententiam puram labia mea loquentur.
My words come from my upright heart; my lips speak sincerely of what I know.
4 Spiritus Dei fecit me, et spiraculum Omnipotentis vivificavit me.
The spirit of God made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
5 Si potes, responde mihi, et adversus faciem meam consiste.
Answer me, if you can. Stand in front of me and prepare to defend yourself.
6 Ecce, et me sicut et te fecit Deus, et de eodem luto ego quoque formatus sum.
Look, before God we are both the same. I was also made from a piece of clay.
7 Verumtamen miraculum meum non te terreat, et eloquentia mea non sit tibi gravis.
See here, you don't need to be frightened of me. I won't be too hard on you.
8 Dixisti ergo in auribus meis, et vocem verborum tuorum audivi:
You spoke in my hearing and I have listened to everything you had to say.
9 Mundus sum ego, et absque delicto: immaculatus, et non est iniquitas in me.
You say, ‘I'm clean, I've done nothing wrong; I'm pure, I have not sinned.
10 Quia querelas in me reperit, ideo arbitratus est me inimicum sibi.
See how God finds fault with me and treats me as his enemy.
11 Posuit in nervo pedes meos; custodivit omnes semitas meas.
He puts my feet in the stocks and watches everything I do.’
12 Hoc est ergo in quo non es justificatus: respondebo tibi, quia major sit Deus homine.
But look, you are wrong—let me explain. God is greater than any human being.
13 Adversus eum contendis, quod non ad omnia verba responderit tibi?
Why are you fighting against him, complaining that God isn't answering your questions?
14 Semel loquitur Deus, et secundo idipsum non repetit.
God speaks over and over again, but people don't notice.
15 Per somnium, in visione nocturna, quando irruit sopor super homines, et dormiunt in lectulo,
Through dreams and visions in the night, when people fall into deep sleep, resting on their beds,
16 tunc aperit aures virorum, et erudiens eos instruit disciplina,
God speaks to them with solemn warnings
17 ut avertat hominem ab his quæ facit, et liberet eum de superbia,
to turn them away from doing wrong and to stop them from becoming proud.
18 eruens animam ejus a corruptione, et vitam illius ut non transeat in gladium.
He saves them from the grave and spares them from violent death.
19 Increpat quoque per dolorem in lectulo, et omnia ossa ejus marcescere facit.
People are also disciplined on a bed of pain with constant aching in their bones.
20 Abominabilis ei fit in vita sua panis, et animæ illius cibus ante desiderabilis.
They have no desire to eat; they do not even want their favorite dishes.
21 Tabescet caro ejus, et ossa, quæ tecta fuerant, nudabuntur.
Their flesh wastes away to nothing; all that's left is skin and bones.
22 Appropinquavit corruptioni anima ejus, et vita illius mortiferis.
They are close to death; their lives approaching the executioner.
23 Si fuerit pro eo angelus loquens, unus de millibus, ut annuntiet hominis æquitatem,
But if an angel appears, a mediator, one of God's thousands of angels, to tell someone the right way for them,
24 miserebitur ejus, et dicet: Libera eum, ut non descendat in corruptionem: inveni in quo ei propitier.
he will be gracious to them. He will say, ‘Save them from going down into the grave, for I have found a way to free them.’
25 Consumpta est caro ejus a suppliciis: revertatur ad dies adolescentiæ suæ.
Then their bodies will be renewed as if they were young again; they will be as strong as when they were in their prime.
26 Deprecabitur Deum, et placabilis ei erit: et videbit faciem ejus in jubilo, et reddet homini justitiam suam.
They will pray to God, and he will accept them; they come into God's presence with joy, and he will set things right for them.
27 Respiciet homines, et dicet: Peccavi, et vere deliqui, et ut eram dignus, non recepi.
They sing, and tell others, ‘I sinned, I distorted what is right, but it did not do me any good.
28 Liberavit animam suam, ne pergeret in interitum, sed vivens lucem videret.
He saved me from going down into the grave and I will live in the light.’
29 Ecce hæc omnia operatur Deus tribus vicibus per singulos,
Look, God does this time and again for people;
30 ut revocet animas eorum a corruptione, et illuminet luce viventium.
he saves them from the grave so they might see the light of life.
31 Attende, Job, et audi me: et tace, dum ego loquor.
Pay attention Job, and listen to me! Be quiet—let me speak!
32 Si autem habes quod loquaris, responde mihi: loquere, volo enim te apparere justum.
But if you have anything to say, then speak up.
33 Quod si non habes, audi me: tace, et docebo te sapientiam.
If not, listen to me. Keep quiet and I will teach you wisdom.”
