> [[job-32|← Previous]] | [[job-00|TOC]] | [[job-34|Next →]] --- # Job, Chapter 33 ## Chapter 33 1 Therefore, O Job, hear my discourse; ^job-33-1 listen to all my words. 2 Behold, now I open my mouth; ^job-33-2 my tongue and voice form words. 3 I will state directly what is in my mind, ^job-33-3 my lips shall speak knowledge clearly; 4 For the spirit of God made me, ^job-33-4 the breath of the Almighty keeps me alive. 5 If you are able, refute me; ^job-33-5 draw up your arguments and take your stand. 6 Look, I am like you before God, ^job-33-6 I too was pinched from clay. 7 Therefore fear of me should not dismay you, ^job-33-7 nor should I weigh heavily upon you. 8 But you have said in my hearing, ^job-33-8 as I listened to the sound of your words: 9 “I am clean, without transgression; ^job-33-9 I am innocent, there is no guilt in me. 10 Yet he invents pretexts against me ^job-33-10 and counts me as an enemy. 11 He puts my feet in the stocks, ^job-33-11 watches all my paths!” 12 In this you are not just, let me tell you; ^job-33-12 for God is greater than mortals. 13 Why, then, do you make complaint against him ^job-33-13 that he gives no reply to their words? 14 For God does speak, once, ^job-33-14 even twice, though you do not see it: 15 In a dream, in a vision of the night, ^job-33-15 when deep sleep falls upon mortals as they slumber in their beds. 16 It is then he opens their ears ^job-33-16 and with a warning, terrifies them, 17 By turning mortals from acting ^job-33-17 and keeping pride away from a man, 18 He holds his soul from the pit, ^job-33-18 his life from passing to the grave. 19 Or he is chastened on a bed of pain, ^job-33-19 suffering continually in his bones, 20 So that to his appetite food is repulsive, ^job-33-20 his throat rejects the choicest nourishment. 21 His flesh is wasted, it cannot be seen; ^job-33-21 bones, once invisible, appear; 22 His soul draws near to the pit, ^job-33-22 his life to the place of the dead. 23 If then there be a divine messenger, ^job-33-23 a mediator, one out of a thousand, to show him what is right, 24 He will take pity on him and say, ^job-33-24 “Deliver him from going down to the pit; I have found him a ransom.” 25 Then his flesh shall become soft as a boy’s; ^job-33-25 he shall be again as in the days of his youth. 26 He shall pray and God will favor him; ^job-33-26 he shall see God’s face with rejoicing; for he restores a person’s righteousness. 27 He shall sing before all and say, ^job-33-27 “I sinned and did wrong, yet I was not punished accordingly. 28 He delivered me from passing to the pit, ^job-33-28 and my life sees light.” 29 See, all these things God does, ^job-33-29 two, even three times, for a man, 30 Bringing back his soul from the pit ^job-33-30 to the light, in the light of the living. 31 Be attentive, Job, listen to me! ^job-33-31 Be silent and I will speak. 32 If you have anything to say, then answer me. ^job-33-32 Speak out! I should like to see you justified. 33 If not, then you listen to me; ^job-33-33 be silent, and I will teach you wisdom. \* (33:6) Pinched from clay: a reference to the tradition that human beings were made from clay; cf. [Gn 2:7]; [Jb 10:9]; [Is 64:7]. \* (33:10) Enemy: see note on [1:1]; cf. [13:24]. \* (33:14) Elihu asserts that God speaks through warning in dream and also through pain. However, his presupposition is that the restored person admits sinfulness (v. [27]). This of course is not relevant to Job’s situation. \* (33:23) Divine messenger: or “angel,” one of the thousands who serve as mediators. a. (33:4) [Jb 32:8]. b. (33:6) [Jb 31:15]. c. (33:9) [Jb 10:7]; [13:18]; [27:5] – [6]; [29:14]; [32:1]; [34:5]. d. (33:10) [Jb 13:24]; [19:11]. e. (33:11) [Jb 13:27]; [31:4]. f. (33:13) [Jb 31:35]. g. (33:20) [Jb 6:7]. h. (33:26) [Jb 22:26] – [29]. --- _New American Bible, revised edition_ (2010, 1991, 1986, 1970) Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. > [[job-32|← Previous]] | [[job-00|TOC]] | [[job-34|Next →]]