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33:1  Job, listen to me! Pay close attention. *
33:2  Everything I will say
33:3  is true and sincere,
33:4  just as surely as the Spirit of God All-Powerful gave me the breath of life.
33:5  Now line up your arguments and prepare to face me.
33:6  We each were made from clay, and God has no favorites,
33:7  so don't be afraid of me or what I might do.
33:8  I have heard you argue
33:9  that you are innocent, guilty of nothing.
33:10  You claim that God has made you his enemy,
33:11  that he has bound your feet and blocked your path.
33:12  But, Job, you're wrong— God is greater than any human.
33:13  So why do you challenge God to answer you?
33:14  God speaks in different ways, and we don't always recognize his voice. *
33:15  Sometimes in the night, he uses terrifying dreams
33:16  to give us warnings.
33:17  God does this to make us turn from sin and pride
33:18  and to protect us from being swept away to the world of the dead.
33:19  Sometimes we are punished with a serious illness and aching joints.
33:20  Merely the thought of our favorite food makes our stomachs sick,
33:21  and we become so skinny that our bones stick out.
33:22  We feel death and the grave taking us in their grip.
33:23  One of a thousand angels then comes to our rescue by saying we are innocent.
33:24  The angel shows kindness, commanding death to release us, because the price was paid.
33:25  Our health is restored, we feel young again,
33:26  and we ask God to accept us. Then we joyfully worship God, and we are rewarded because we are innocent.
33:27  When that happens, we tell everyone, “I sinned and did wrong, but God forgave me
33:28  and rescued me from death! Now I will see the light.”
33:29  God gives each of us chance after chance
33:30  to be saved from death and brought into the light that gives life.
33:31  So, Job, pay attention and don't interrupt,
33:32  though I would gladly listen to anything you say that proves you are right.
33:33  Otherwise, listen in silence to my wisdom.