Job 33:1-21 ▼

1 “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.