Job 33

NEW JERUSALEM	DOUAI-RHEIMS
1 So, Job, please listen to my words and attend to al I have to say.	1 Hear therefore, O Job, my speeches, and hearken to all my words.
2 Now as I open my mouth, and my tongue shapes words against my palate,	2 Behold now I have opened my mouth, let my tongue speak within my jaws.
3 I shal utter words of wisdom from the heart, my lips will speak in all sincerity.	3 My words are from my upright heart, and my lips shall speak a pure sentence.
4 God's was the spirit that made me, Shaddai's the breath that gave me life.	4 The spirit of God made me, and the breath of the Almighty gave me life.
5 Refute me, if you can. Prepare yourself, take up your position!	5 If thou canst, answer me, and stand up against my face.
6 Look, I am your equal, not some god, like you I was moulded out of clay.	6 Behold God hath made me as well as thee, and of the same clay I also was formed.
7 No fear of me, therefore, need affright you, my hand wil not lie heavy over you.	7 But yet let not my wonder terrify thee, and let not my eloquence be burdensome to thee.
8 How could you say in my hearing -- for the sound of your words did not escape me-	8 Now thou has said in my hearing, and I have heard the voice of thy words :
9 'I am clean, and sinless, I am pure, without fault.	9 I am clean, and without sin : I am unspotted, and there is no iniquity in me.
10 But he keeps inventing excuses against me and regards me as his enemy.	10 Because he hath found complaints against me, therefore he hath counted me for his enemy.
11 He puts me in the stocks, he watches my every path'?	11 He hath put my feet in the stocks, he hath observed all my paths.
12 In saying so, I tel you, you are wrong: for God is greater than any human being.	12 Now this is the thing in which thou art not justified : I will answer thee, that God is greater than man.
13 Why then quarrel with him for not replying to you, word for word?	13 Dost thou strive against him, because he hath not answered thee to all words?
14 God speaks first in one way, and then in another, although we do not realise it.	14 God speaketh once, and repeateth not the selfsame thing the second time.
15 In dreams and in night-visions, when slumber has settled on humanity and people are asleep in bed,	15 By a dream in a vision by night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, and they are sleeping in their beds :
16 he speaks in someone's ear, frightens him with apparitions	16 Then he openeth the ears of men, and teaching instructeth them in what they are to learn.
17 to turn him from what he is doing and to put an end to his pride.	17 That he may withdraw a man from the things he is doing, and may deliver him from pride.
18 And thus he preserves his soul from the abyss, his life from passing down the Canal.	18 Rescuing his soul from corruption : and his life from passing to the sword.
19 Or again, he corrects by the sufferings of the sick-bed, when someone's bones tremble continuously	19 He rebuketh also by sorrow in the bed, and he maketh all his bones to wither.
20 and the thought of food revolts him, however tasty it is,	20 Bread becometh abominable to him in his life, and to his soul the meat which before he desired.
21 and his flesh rots away while you watch it and the bones beneath begin to show,	21 His flesh shall be consumed away, and his bones that were covered shall be made bare.
22 and his soul is drawing nearer to the abyss and his life to the dwel ing of the dead.	22 His soul hath drawn near to corruption, and his life to the destroyers.
23 Then, if there is an Angel near him, a Mediator, one in a thousand, to remind him where his duty lies,	23 If there shall be an angel speaking for him, one among thousands, to declare man's uprightness,
24 to take pity on him and to say, 'Spare him from going down to the abyss: I have found the ransom forhis life,'	24 He shall have mercy on him, and shall say : Deliver him, that he may not go down to corruption : I have found wherein I may be merciful to him.
25 his flesh wil recover its childhood freshness, he wil return to the days of his youth.	25 His flesh is consumed with punishment, let him return to the days of his youth.
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	26 He shall pray to God, and he will be gracious to him : and he shall see his face with joy, and he will render to man his justice.
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.	27 He shall look upon men, and shall say : I have sinned, and indeed I have offended, and I have not received what I have deserved.
28 He has spared my soul from going down to the abyss and is making my life see the light.'	28 He hath delivered his soul from going into destruction, that it may live and see the light.
29 All this is what God keeps doing again and yet again for human beings,	29 Behold, all these things God worketh three times within every one.
30 to snatch souls back from the abyss and to make the light of the living stil shine.	30 That he may withdraw their souls from corruption, and enlighten them with the light of the living.
31 Pay attention, Job, listen to me: keep quiet, I have more to say.	31 Attend, Job, and hearken to me : and hold thy peace, whilst I speak.
32 If you have anything to say, refute me, speak out, for I would gladly accept that you are upright.	32 But if thou hast any thing to say, answer me, speak : for I would have thee to appear just.
33 If not, then listen to me: keep quiet, and I wil teach you wisdom.	33 And if thou have not, hear me : hold thy peace, and I will teach thee wisdom.