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?
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.
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.
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.”