Job 33

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	NEW JERUSALEM
1 Therefore, O Job, hear my discourse, and hearken to all my words.	1 So, Job, please listen to my words and attend to al I have to say.
2 Behold, now I open my mouth; my tongue and my voice form words.	2 Now as I open my mouth, and my tongue shapes words against my palate,
3 I will state directly what is in my mind, my lips shall utter knowledge sincerely;	3 I shal utter words of wisdom from the heart, my lips will speak in all sincerity.
4 For the spirit of God has made me, the breath of the Almighty keeps me alive.	4 God's was the spirit that made me, Shaddai's the breath that gave me life.
5 If you are able, refute me; draw up your arguments and stand forth.	5 Refute me, if you can. Prepare yourself, take up your position!
6 Behold I, like yourself, have been taken from the same clay by God.	6 Look, I am your equal, not some god, like you I was moulded out of clay.
7 Therefore no fear of me should dismay you, nor should my presence weigh heavily upon you.	7 No fear of me, therefore, need affright you, my hand wil not lie heavy over you.
8 But you have said in my hearing, as I listened to the sound of your words:	8 How could you say in my hearing -- for the sound of your words did not escape me-
9 "I am clean and without transgression; I am innocent; there is no guilt in me.	9 'I am clean, and sinless, I am pure, without fault.
10 Yet he invents pretexts against me and reckons me as his enemy.	10 But he keeps inventing excuses against me and regards me as his enemy.
11 He puts my feet in the stocks; he watches all my ways!"	11 He puts me in the stocks, he watches my every path'?
12 In this you are not just, let me tell you; for God is greater than man.	12 In saying so, I tel you, you are wrong: for God is greater than any human being.
13 Why, then, do you make complaint against him that he gives no account of his doings?	13 Why then quarrel with him for not replying to you, word for word?
14 For God does speak, perhaps once, or even twice, though one perceive it not.	14 God speaks first in one way, and then in another, although we do not realise it.
15 In a dream, in a vision of the night, (when deep sleep falls upon men) as they slumber in their beds,	15 In dreams and in night-visions, when slumber has settled on humanity and people are asleep in bed,
16 It is then he opens the ears of men and as a warning to them, terrifies them;	16 he speaks in someone's ear, frightens him with apparitions
17 By turning man from evil and keeping pride away from him,	17 to turn him from what he is doing and to put an end to his pride.
18 He withholds his soul from the pit and his life from passing to the grave.	18 And thus he preserves his soul from the abyss, his life from passing down the Canal.
19 Or a man is chastened on his bed by pain and unceasing suffering within his frame,	19 Or again, he corrects by the sufferings of the sick-bed, when someone's bones tremble continuously
20 So that to his appetite food becomes repulsive, and his senses reject the choicest nourishment.	20 and the thought of food revolts him, however tasty it is,
21 His flesh is wasted so that it cannot be seen, and his bones, once invisible, appear;	21 and his flesh rots away while you watch it and the bones beneath begin to show,
22 His soul draws near to the pit, his life to the place of the dead.	22 and his soul is drawing nearer to the abyss and his life to the dwel ing of the dead.
23 If then there be for him an angel, one out of a thousand, a mediator, To show him what is right for him and bring the man back to justice,	23 Then, if there is an Angel near him, a Mediator, one in a thousand, to remind him where his duty lies,
24 He will take pity on him and say, "Deliver him from going down to the pit; I have found him a ransom."	24 to take pity on him and to say, 'Spare him from going down to the abyss: I have found the ransom forhis life,'
25 Then his flesh shall become soft as a boy's; he shall be again as in the days of his youth.	25 his flesh wil recover its childhood freshness, he wil return to the days of his youth.
26 He shall pray and God will favor him; he shall see God's face with rejoicing.	26 He wil pray to God who has restored him to favour, and wil come into his presence with joy. He wiltel others how he has received saving justice
27 He shall sing before men and say, "I sinned and did wrong, yet he has not punished me accordingly.	27 and sing this hymn before his companions, 'I sinned and left the path of right, but God has notpunished me as my sin deserved.
28 He delivered my soul from passing to the pit, and I behold the light of life."	28 He has spared my soul from going down to the abyss and is making my life see the light.'
29 Lo, all these things God does, twice, or thrice, for a man,	29 All this is what God keeps doing again and yet again for human beings,
30 Bringing back his soul from the pit to the light, in the land of the living.	30 to snatch souls back from the abyss and to make the light of the living stil shine.
31 Be attentive, O Job; listen to me! Be silent and I will speak.	31 Pay attention, Job, listen to me: keep quiet, I have more to say.
32 If you have aught to say, then answer me. Speak out! I should like to see you justified.	32 If you have anything to say, refute me, speak out, for I would gladly accept that you are upright.
33 If not, then do you listen to me; be silent while I teach you wisdom.	33 If not, then listen to me: keep quiet, and I wil teach you wisdom.