33:1
So, Job, please listen to my words and attend to all I have to say.
33:2
Now as I open my mouth, and my tongue shapes words against my palate,
33:3
I shall utter words of wisdom from the heart, my lips will speak in all sincerity.
33:4
God's was the spirit that made me, Shaddai's the breath that gave me life.
33:5
Refute me, if you can. Prepare yourself, take up your position!
33:6
Look, I am your equal, not some god, like you I was moulded out of clay.
33:7
No fear of me, therefore, need affright you, my hand will not lie heavy over you.
33:8
How could you say in my hearing -- for the sound of your words did not escape me-
33:9
'I am clean, and sinless, I am pure, without fault.
33:10
But he keeps inventing excuses against me and regards me as his enemy.
33:11
He puts me in the stocks, he watches my every path'?
33:12
In saying so, I tell you, you are wrong: for God is greater than any human being.
33:13
Why then quarrel with him for not replying to you, word for word?
33:14
God speaks first in one way, and then in another, although we do not realise it.
33:15
In dreams and in night-visions, when slumber has settled on humanity and people are asleep in bed,
33:16
he speaks in someone's ear, frightens him with apparitions
33:17
to turn him from what he is doing and to put an end to his pride.
33:18
And thus he preserves his soul from the abyss, his life from passing down the Canal.
33:19
Or again, he corrects by the sufferings of the sick-bed, when someone's bones tremble continuously
33:20
and the thought of food revolts him, however tasty it is,
33:21
and his flesh rots away while you watch it and the bones beneath begin to show,
33:22
and his soul is drawing nearer to the abyss and his life to the dwelling of the dead.
33:23
Then, if there is an Angel near him, a Mediator, one in a thousand, to remind him where his duty lies,
33:24
to take pity on him and to say, 'Spare him from going down to the abyss: I have found the ransom for his life,'
33:25
his flesh will recover its childhood freshness, he will return to the days of his youth.
33:26
He will pray to God who has restored him to favour, and will come into his presence with joy. He will tell others how he has received saving justice
33:27
and sing this hymn before his companions, 'I sinned and left the path of right, but God has not punished me as my sin deserved.
33:28
He has spared my soul from going down to the abyss and is making my life see the light.'
33:29
All this is what God keeps doing again and yet again for human beings,
33:30
to snatch souls back from the abyss and to make the light of the living still shine.
33:31
Pay attention, Job, listen to me: keep quiet, I have more to say.
33:32
If you have anything to say, refute me, speak out, for I would gladly accept that you are upright.
33:33
If not, then listen to me: keep quiet, and I will teach you wisdom.
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