Compare: Job 33

BSB

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

BSB

Behold, I will open my mouth; my address is on the tip of my tongue.

BSB

My words are from an upright heart, and my lips speak sincerely what I know.

BSB

The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

BSB

Refute me if you can; prepare your case and confront me.

BSB

I am just like you before God; I was also formed from clay.

BSB

Surely no fear of me should terrify you; nor will my hand be heavy upon you.

BSB

Surely you have spoken in my hearing, and I have heard these very words:

BSB

‘I am pure, without transgression; I am clean, with no iniquity in me.

BSB

Yet God finds occasions against me; He counts me as His enemy.

BSB

He puts my feet in the stocks; He watches over all my paths.’

BSB

Behold, you are not right in this matter. I will answer you, for God is greater than man.

BSB

Why do you complain to Him that He answers nothing a man asks?

BSB

For God speaks in one way and in another, yet no one notices.

BSB

In a dream, in a vision in the night, when deep sleep falls upon men as they slumber on their beds,

BSB

He opens their ears and terrifies them with warnings

BSB

to turn a man from wrongdoing and keep him from pride,

BSB

to preserve his soul from the Pit and his life from perishing by the sword.

BSB

A man is also chastened on his bed with pain and constant distress in his bones,

BSB

so that he detests his bread, and his soul loathes his favorite food.

BSB

His flesh wastes away from sight, and his hidden bones protrude.

BSB

He draws near to the Pit, and his life to the messengers of death.

BSB

Yet if there is a messenger on his side, one mediator in a thousand, to tell a man what is right for him,

BSB

to be gracious to him and say, ‘Spare him from going down to the Pit; I have found his ransom,’

BSB

then his flesh is refreshed like a child’s; he returns to the days of his youth.

BSB

He prays to God and finds favor; he sees God’s face and shouts for joy, and God restores His righteousness to that man.

BSB

Then he sings before men with these words: ‘I have sinned and perverted what was right; yet I did not get what I deserved.

BSB

He redeemed my soul from going down to the Pit, and I will live to see the light.’

BSB

Behold, all these things God does to a man, two or even three times,

BSB

to bring back his soul from the Pit, that he may be enlightened with the light of life.

BSB

Pay attention, Job, and listen to me; be silent, and I will speak.

BSB

But if you have something to say, answer me; speak up, for I would like to vindicate you.

BSB

But if not, then listen to me; be quiet, and I will teach you wisdom.”