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32So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. ²Then Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, became angry. He was angry at Job because he justified himself rather than God; ³he was angry also at Job’s three friends because they had found no answer, though they had declared Job to be in the wrong. ⁴Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job, because they were older than he. ⁵But when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouths of these three men, he became angry.

⁶Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite answered: “I am young in years, and you are aged; therefore I was timid and afraid to declare my opinion to you. ⁷I said, ‘Let days speak, and many years teach wisdom.’ ⁸But truly it is the spirit in a mortal, the breath of the Almighty, that makes for understanding. ⁹It is not the old that are wise, nor the aged that understand what is right. ¹⁰Therefore I say, ‘Listen to me; let me also declare my opinion.’ ¹⁹My heart is indeed like wine that has no vent; like new wineskins, it is ready to burst.

33“But now, hear my speech, O Job, and listen to all my words.

¹⁹They are also chastened with pain upon their beds, and with continual strife in their bones, ²⁰so that their lives loathe bread, and their appetites dainty food. ²¹Their flesh is so wasted away that it cannot be seen; and their bones, once invisible, now stick out. ²²Their souls draw near the Pit, and their lives to those who bring death. ²³Then, if there should be for one of them an angel, a mediator, one of a thousand, one who declares a person upright, ²⁴and he is gracious to that person, and says, ‘Deliver him from going down into the Pit; I have found a ransom; ²⁵let his flesh become fresh with youth; let him return to the days of his youthful vigor.’ ²⁶Then he prays to God, and is accepted by him, he comes into his presence with joy, and God repays him for his righteousness. ²⁷That person sings to others and says, ‘I sinned, and perverted what was right, and it was not paid back to me. ²⁸He has redeemed my soul from going down to the Pit, and my life shall see the light.’