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33. Elihu Speaks

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 Or that he does not answer for any of his actions?
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. Or from crossing the river

    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. Or to the place of the dead
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.”