VerseAI

NIV

Job 33

  1. 1<pb/><t>“But now, Job, listen to my words;</t> <t>pay attention to everything I say.</t>
  2. 2<t>I am about to open my mouth;</t> <t>my words are on the tip of my tongue.</t>
  3. 3<t>My words come from an upright heart;</t> <t>my lips sincerely speak what I know.</t>
  4. 4<t>The Spirit of God has made me;</t> <t>the breath of the Almighty gives me life.</t>
  5. 5<t>Answer me then, if you can;</t> <t>stand up and argue your case before me.</t>
  6. 6<t>I am the same as you in God’s sight;</t> <t>I too am a piece of clay.</t>
  7. 7<t>No fear of me should alarm you,</t> <t>nor should my hand be heavy on you. <pb/></t>
  8. 8<t>“But you have said in my hearing—</t> <t>I heard the very words—</t>
  9. 9<t>‘I am pure, I have done no wrong;</t> <t>I am clean and free from sin.</t>
  10. 10<t>Yet God has found fault with me;</t> <t>he considers me his enemy.</t>
  11. 11<t>He fastens my feet in shackles;</t> <t>he keeps close watch on all my paths.’ <pb/></t>
  12. 12<t>“But I tell you, in this you are not right,</t> <t>for God is greater than any mortal.</t>
  13. 13<t>Why do you complain to him</t> <t>that he responds to no one’s words<f>[54]</f>?</t>
  14. 14<t>For God does speak—now one way, now another—</t> <t>though no one perceives it.</t>
  15. 15<t>In a dream, in a vision of the night,</t> <t>when deep sleep falls on people</t> <t>as they slumber in their beds,</t>
  16. 16<t>he may speak in their ears</t> <t>and terrify them with warnings,</t>
  17. 17<t>to turn them from wrongdoing</t> <t>and keep them from pride,</t>
  18. 18<t>to preserve them from the pit,</t> <t>their lives from perishing by the sword.<f>[55]</f> <pb/></t>
  19. 19<t>“Or someone may be chastened on a bed of pain</t> <t>with constant distress in their bones,</t>
  20. 20<t>so that their body finds food repulsive</t> <t>and their soul loathes the choicest meal.</t>
  21. 21<t>Their flesh wastes away to nothing,</t> <t>and their bones, once hidden, now stick out.</t>
  22. 22<t>They draw near to the pit,</t> <t>and their life to the messengers of death.<f>[56]</f></t>
  23. 23<t>Yet if there is an angel at their side,</t> <t>a messenger, one out of a thousand,</t> <t>sent to tell them how to be upright,</t>
  24. 24<t>and he is gracious to that person and says to God,</t> <t>‘Spare them from going down to the pit;</t> <t>I have found a ransom for them—</t>
  25. 25<t>let their flesh be renewed like a child’s;</t> <t>let them be restored as in the days of their youth’—</t>
  26. 26<t>then that person can pray to God and find favor with him,</t> <t>they will see God’s face and shout for joy;</t> <t>he will restore them to full well-being.</t>
  27. 27<t>And they will go to others and say,</t> <t>‘I have sinned, I have perverted what is right,</t> <t>but I did not get what I deserved.</t>
  28. 28<t>God has delivered me from going down to the pit,</t> <t>and I shall live to enjoy the light of life.’ <pb/></t>
  29. 29<t>“God does all these things to a person—</t> <t>twice, even three times—</t>
  30. 30<t>to turn them back from the pit,</t> <t>that the light of life may shine on them. <pb/></t>
  31. 31<t>“Pay attention, Job, and listen to me;</t> <t>be silent, and I will speak.</t>
  32. 32<t>If you have anything to say, answer me;</t> <t>speak up, for I want to vindicate you.</t>
  33. 33<t>But if not, then listen to me;</t> <t>be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.”</t>