Job 33

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