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Elihu Rebukes Job

33‘But now, hear my speech, O Job,
   and listen to all my words.
² See, I open my mouth;
   the tongue in my mouth speaks.
³ My words declare the uprightness of my heart,
   and what my lips know they speak sincerely.
⁴ The spirit of God has made me,
   and the breath of the Almighty^* gives me life.
⁵ Answer me, if you can;
   set your words in order before me; take your stand.
⁶ See, before God I am as you are;
   I too was formed from a piece of clay.
⁷ No fear of me need terrify you;
   my pressure will not be heavy on you.

⁸ ‘Surely, you have spoken in my hearing,
   and I have heard the sound of your words.
⁹ You say, “I am clean, without transgression;
   I am pure, and there is no iniquity in me.
¹⁰ Look, he finds occasions against me,
   he counts me as his enemy;
¹¹ he puts my feet in the stocks,
   and watches all my paths.”

¹² ‘But in this you are not right. I will answer you:
   God is greater than any mortal.
¹³ Why do you contend against him,
   saying, “He will answer none of my^* words”?
¹⁴ For God speaks in one way,
   and in two, though people do not perceive it.
¹⁵ In a dream, in a vision of the night,
   when deep sleep falls on mortals,
   while they slumber on their beds,
¹⁶ then he opens their ears,
   and terrifies them with warnings,
¹⁷ that he may turn them aside from their deeds,
   and keep them from pride,
¹⁸ to spare their souls from the Pit,
   their lives from traversing the River.
¹⁹ They are also chastened with pain upon their beds,
   and with continual strife in their bones,
²⁰ so that their lives loathe bread,
   and their appetites dainty food.
²¹ Their flesh is so wasted away that it cannot be seen;
   and their bones, once invisible, now stick out.
²² Their souls draw near the Pit,
   and their lives to those who bring death.
²³ Then, if there should be for one of them an angel,
   a mediator, one of a thousand,
   one who declares a person upright,
²⁴ and he is gracious to that person, and says,
   “Deliver him from going down into the Pit;
   I have found a ransom;
²⁵ let his flesh become fresh with youth;
   let him return to the days of his youthful vigour”;
²⁶ then he prays to God, and is accepted by him,
   he comes into his presence with joy,
and God^* repays him for his righteousness.
²⁷   That person sings to others and says,
“I sinned, and perverted what was right,
   and it was not paid back to me.
²⁸ He has redeemed my soul from going down to the Pit,
   and my life shall see the light.”

²⁹ ‘God indeed does all these things,
   twice, three times, with mortals,
³⁰ to bring back their souls from the Pit,
   so that they may see the light of life.^*
31 Pay heed, Job, listen to me;
   be silent, and I will speak.
³² If you have anything to say, answer me;
   speak, for I desire to justify you.
³³ If not, listen to me;
   be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.’