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