Ayub 33

"However, Ayub, Please hear my speech,

And listen to all my words.

²See now, I have opened my mouth.

My tongue has spoken in my mouth.

³My words shall utter the uprightness of my heart;

That which my lips know they shall speak sincerely.

⁴The Spirit of God has made me,

And the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

⁵If you can, answer me;

Set your words in order before me, and stand forth.

⁶Behold, I am toward God even as you are:

I am also formed out of the clay.

⁷Behold, my terror shall not make you afraid,

Neither shall my pressure be heavy on you.

 

⁸"Surely you have spoken in my hearing,

I have heard the voice of your words, saying,

⁹'I am clean, without disobedience.

I am innocent, neither is there iniquity in me:

¹⁰Behold, he finds occasions against me,

He counts me for his enemy:

¹¹He puts my feet in the stocks,

He marks all my paths.'

 

¹²"Behold, I will answer you. In this you are not just;

For God is greater than man.

¹³Why do you strive against him,

Because he does not give account of any of his matters?

¹⁴For God speaks once,

Yes twice, though man pays no attention.

¹⁵In a dream, in a vision of the night,

When deep sleep falls on men,

In slumbering on the bed;

¹⁶Then he opens the ears of men,

And seals their instruction,

¹⁷That he may withdraw man from his purpose,

And hide pride from man.

¹⁸He keeps back his soul from the pit,

And his life from perishing by the sword.

¹⁹He is chastened also with pain on his bed,

With continual strife in his bones;

²⁰So that his life abhors bread,

And his soul dainty food.

²¹His flesh is so consumed away, that it cannot be seen;

His bones that were not seen stick out.

²²Yes, his soul draws near to the pit,

And his life to the destroyers.

 

²³"If there is beside him an angel,

An interpreter, one among a thousand,

To show to man what is right for him;

²⁴Then God is gracious to him, and says,

'Deliver him from going down to the pit,

I have found a ransom.'

²⁵His flesh shall be fresher than a child's;

He returns to the days of his youth.

²⁶He prays to God, and he is favourable to him,

So that he sees his face with joy:

He restores to man his righteousness.

²⁷He sings before men, and says,

'I have sinned, and perverted that which was right,

And it didn't profit me.

²⁸He has redeemed my soul from going into the pit,

My life shall see the light.'

 

²⁹"Behold, God works all these things,

Twice, yes three times, with a man,

³⁰To bring back his soul from the pit,

That he may be enlightened with the light of the living.

³¹Mark well, Ayub, and listen to me:

Hold your peace, and I will speak.

³²If you have anything to say, answer me:

Speak, for I desire to justify you.

³³If not, listen to me:

Hold your peace, and I will teach you wisdom."

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