Job 33

NEW JERUSALEM	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 So, Job, please listen to my words and attend to al I have to say.	1 Therefore, hear my speeches, Job, and listen to all my words.
2 Now as I open my mouth, and my tongue shapes words against my palate,	2 Behold, I have opened my mouth; let my tongue speak along with my throat.
3 I shal utter words of wisdom from the heart, my lips will speak in all sincerity.	3 My words are from my simple heart, and my lips will speak a pure judgment.
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 you can, answer me, and oppose me to my face.
6 Look, I am your equal, not some god, like you I was moulded out of clay.	6 Behold, God has made me, just as he also has made you, and I, likewise, have been formed of the same clay.
7 No fear of me, therefore, need affright you, my hand wil not lie heavy over you.	7 So, truly, do not let my wonders terrify you, and do not let my eloquence be burdensome to you.
8 How could you say in my hearing -- for the sound of your words did not escape me-	8 For you have spoken in my hearing, and I have heard the voice of your words, saying:
9 'I am clean, and sinless, I am pure, without fault.	9 “I am clean and without sin; I am immaculate, and there is no iniquity in me.
10 But he keeps inventing excuses against me and regards me as his enemy.	10 Yet he has discovered blame in me, and so he has treated me like his enemy.
11 He puts me in the stocks, he watches my every path'?	11 He has put my feet in fetters; he has kept watch over all my ways.”
12 In saying so, I tel you, you are wrong: for God is greater than any human being.	12 Therefore, it is for this reason that you have not been justified. For I tell you that God is greater than man.
13 Why then quarrel with him for not replying to you, word for word?	13 Do you contend against him because he has not responded to all of your words?
14 God speaks first in one way, and then in another, although we do not realise it.	14 God speaks once, and he does not repeat the same thing a second time.
15 In dreams and in night-visions, when slumber has settled on humanity and people are asleep in bed,	15 Through a dream in a vision of the night, when a deep sleep falls over men, and they are sleeping in their beds,
16 he speaks in someone's ear, frightens him with apparitions	16 then, he opens the ears of men, and, educating them, he teaches discipline,
17 to turn him from what he is doing and to put an end to his pride.	17 so that he may divert a man from the things that he is doing, and may free 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 away by the sword.
19 Or again, he corrects by the sufferings of the sick-bed, when someone's bones tremble continuously	19 Likewise, he rebukes by sorrow in bed, and he causes all of his bones to become weak.
20 and the thought of food revolts him, however tasty it is,	20 Bread becomes 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 body will waste away, and his bones, which had been covered, will be revealed.
22 and his soul is drawing nearer to the abyss and his life to the dwel ing of the dead.	22 His soul has approached corruption, and his life has drawn near to what is deadly.
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 were an angel speaking for him, one among thousands, to declare the fairness of the man,
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 have mercy on him, and he will say, “Free him, so that he will not descend to destruction. I have found a reason to be favorable to him.
25 his flesh wil recover its childhood freshness, he wil return to the days of his youth.	25 His body is consumed by suffering. 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 will beg pardon from God, and he will be soothing to him; and he will look upon his face in jubilation, and he will restore his justice to man.
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 will consider mankind, and he will say: “I have sinned and truly I have offended, yet I was not treated as I deserved.”
28 He has spared my soul from going down to the abyss and is making my life see the light.'	28 He has freed his soul from continuing into destruction, so that, in living, it may see the light.
29 All this is what God keeps doing again and yet again for human beings,	29 Behold, all these things God works three times within each one,
30 to snatch souls back from the abyss and to make the light of the living stil shine.	30 so that he may revive their souls from corruption and enlighten them with the light of life.
31 Pay attention, Job, listen to me: keep quiet, I have more to say.	31 Pay attention Job, and listen to me; and remain silent, while I speak.
32 If you have anything to say, refute me, speak out, for I would gladly accept that you are upright.	32 Yet, if you have anything to say, answer me and speak, for I want you to be treated justly.
33 If not, then listen to me: keep quiet, and I wil teach you wisdom.	33 But if you do not have anything to say, then listen to me. Be quiet and I will teach you wisdom.