Job 33:1-31

Elihu Invites Job’s Attention

33:1 “But now, O Job, listen to my words,

and hear everything I have to say!

33:2 See now, I have opened my mouth;

my tongue in my mouth has spoken.

33:3 My words come from the uprightness of my heart,

and my lips will utter knowledge sincerely.

33:4 The Spirit of God has made me,

and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

33:5 Reply to me, if you can;

set your arguments in order before me

and take your stand!

33:6 Look, I am just like you in relation to God;

I too have been molded from clay.

33:7 Therefore no fear of me should terrify you,

nor should my pressure be heavy on you.

Elihu Rejects Job’s Plea of Innocence

33:8 “Indeed, you have said in my hearing

(I heard the sound of the words!):

33:9 ‘I am pure, without transgression;

I am clean and have no iniquity.

33:10 Yet God finds occasions with me;

he regards me as his enemy!

33:11 He puts my feet in shackles;

he watches closely all my paths.’

33:12 Now in this, you are not right – I answer you,

for God is greater than a human being.

33:13 Why do you contend against him,

that he does not answer all a person’s words?

Elihu Disagrees With Job’s View of God

33:14 “For God speaks, the first time in one way,

the second time in another,

though a person does not perceive it.

33:15 In a dream, a night vision,

when deep sleep falls on people

as they sleep in their beds.

33:16 Then he gives a revelation to people,

and terrifies them with warnings,

33:17 to turn a person from his sin,

and to cover a person’s pride.

33:18 He spares a person’s life from corruption,

his very life from crossing over the river.

33:19 Or a person is chastened by pain on his bed,

and with the continual strife of his bones,

33:20 so that his life loathes food,

and his soul rejects appetizing fare.

33:21 His flesh wastes away from sight,

and his bones, which were not seen,

are easily visible.

33:22 He draws near to the place of corruption,

and his life to the messengers of death.

33:23 If there is an angel beside him,

one mediator out of a thousand,

to tell a person what constitutes his uprightness;

33:24 and if God is gracious to him and says,

‘Spare him from going down

to the place of corruption,

I have found a ransom for him,’

33:25 then his flesh is restored like a youth’s;

he returns to the days of his youthful vigor.

33:26 He entreats God, and God delights in him,

he sees God’s face with rejoicing,

and God restores to him his righteousness.

33:27 That person sings to others, saying:

‘I have sinned and falsified what is right,

but I was not punished according to what I deserved.

33:28 He redeemed my life

from going down to the place of corruption,

and my life sees the light!’

Elihu’s Appeal to Job

33:29 “Indeed, God does all these things,

twice, three times, in his dealings with a person,

33:30 to turn back his life from the place of corruption,

that he may be enlightened with the light of life.

33:31 Pay attention, Job – listen to me;

be silent, and I will speak.