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33:1  “Therefore, O Job, listen to my words and pay careful attention to everything I have to say.
33:2  Behold, I have opened my mouth; the words are on the tip of my tongue.
33:3  My words issue forth from an upright heart, and my lips will be sincere in what I say.
33:4  The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
33:5  “Refute me if you are able to do so; prepare your arguments and confront me.
33:6  In the sight of God I am just like you; like you, I was formed from a piece of clay.
33:7  Therefore, no fear of me should frighten you, nor should you feel any pressure on my account.
33:8  “You have offered your defense in my presence, and I have listened carefully to the words you spoke.
33:9  You said, ‘I am pure and without sin; I am clean, and there is no fault in me.
33:10  Yet God continues to invent excuses against me and regards me as his enemy.
33:11  He fastens my feet in shackles and watches everything I do.’
33:12  “In regard to this, I tell you, you are completely wrong. God is greater than any human being.
33:13  Why then do you utter endless complaints that he will not explain his decisions to you?
33:14  “For God does speak, first in one way and then in another, although we do not always perceive it.
33:15  “In dreams and in visions of the night, when deep sleep falls upon men as they slumber on their beds,
33:16  God then opens their ears and issues warnings that strike them with terror,
33:17  so that he may turn man away from evil and check his pride.
33:18  In this way he spares his soul from the pit and his life from a violent death.
33:19  “Or again, he chastens him with pain upon his bed and with unceasing agony in his bones,
33:20  so that he regards food with loathing and rejects the choicest dishes.
33:21  His flesh is so wasted away that it cannot be seen, and his bones that once were invisible now begin to show.
33:22  His soul draws nearer to the pit and his life to the abode of the dead.
33:23  “But then, if there should be an angel on his side, one out of a thousand, a mediator, to show him what is right for him and expound God’s righteousness to him,
33:24  he will take pity on him and say, ‘Spare him from going down into the pit; I have the ransom for his life.’
33:25  Then his flesh will regain its boyish freshness, and he will return to the days of his youthful vigor.
33:26  “Then, if he entreats God to show him favor and allow him to enter his presence with joy,
33:27  he will affirm before everyone, ‘I sinned and departed from the path of righteousness, but God has not punished me as I deserved.
33:28  He spared my soul from descending into the pit, and I will behold the light of life.’
33:29  “God indeed does all these things again and again for a man,
33:30  bringing back his soul from the pit so that he may see the light of life.
33:31  “Be attentive, Job, and listen to me; be silent and I will speak.
33:32  If you have anything to say, then answer me; speak, for I desire to justify you.
33:33  But if you have nothing to say, then listen to me; be silent and I will teach you wisdom.”