33 “Please listen, Job, to what I have to say. 2 I have begun to speak; now let me continue. 3 I will speak the truth with all sincerity. 4 For the Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life. 5 Don’t hesitate to answer me if you can.
6 “Look, I am the one you were wishing for, someone to stand between you and God and to be both his representative and yours. 7 You need not be frightened of me. I am not some person of renown to make you nervous and afraid. I, too, am made of common clay.
8 “You have said it in my hearing, yes, you’ve said it again and again— 9 ‘I am pure, I am innocent; I have not sinned.’ 10 You say God is using a fine-tooth comb to try to find a single fault, and so to count you as his enemy. 11 ‘And he puts my feet in the stocks,’ you say, ‘and watches every move I make.’
12 “All right, here is my reply: In this very thing, you have sinned by speaking of God that way. For God is greater than man. 13 Why should you fight against him just because he does not give account to you of what he does?
14 “For God speaks again and again, 15 in dreams, in visions of the night when deep sleep falls on men as they lie on their beds. 16 He opens their ears in times like that and gives them wisdom and instruction, 17-18 causing them to change their minds, and keeping them from pride, and warning them of the penalties of sin, and keeping them from falling into some trap.
19 “Or God sends sickness and pain, even though no bone is broken, 20 so that a man loses all taste and appetite for food and doesn’t care for even the daintiest dessert. 21 He becomes thin, mere skin and bones, 22 and draws near to death.
23-24 “But if a messenger from heaven is there to intercede for him as a friend, to show him what is right, then God pities him and says,[a] ‘Set him free. Do not make him die, for I have found a substitute.’ 25 Then his body will become as healthy as a child’s, firm and youthful again. 26 And when he prays to God, God will hear and answer and receive him with joy, and return him to his duties. 27 And he will declare to his friends, ‘I sinned, but God let me go. 28 He did not let me die. I will go on living in the realm of light.’
29 “Yes, God often does these things for man— 30 brings back his soul from the pit, so that he may live in the light of the living. 31 Mark this well, O Job. Listen to me, and let me say more. 32 But if you have anything to say at this point, go ahead. I want to hear it, for I am anxious to justify you. 33 But if not, then listen to me. Keep silence and I will teach you wisdom!”
Footnotes
- Job 33:23 then God pities him and says, or “and if the Angel says.”