Job 33

Contemporary English Version

Elihu Speaks

Job, Listen to Me!

33 Job, listen to me!
    Pay close attention.
* ²Everything I will say
³    is true and sincere,
⁴just as surely as the Spirit
of God All-Powerful^[a]
    gave me the breath of life.
⁵Now line up your arguments
    and prepare to face me.
⁶We each were made from clay,
    and God has no favorites,
⁷so don't be afraid of me
    or what I might do.

I Have Heard You Argue

⁸I have heard you argue
⁹that you are innocent,
    guilty of nothing.
¹⁰You claim that God
    has made you his enemy,
¹¹^(A) that he has bound your feet
    and blocked your path.
¹²But, Job, you're wrong—
God is greater
    than any human.
¹³So why do you challenge God
    to answer you?^[b]
¹⁴God speaks in different ways,
and we don't always
    recognize his voice.
* ¹⁵^(B) Sometimes in the night,
he uses terrifying dreams
¹⁶    to give us warnings.
¹⁷God does this to make us turn
    from sin and pride
¹⁸and to protect us
from being swept away
    to the world of the dead.

¹⁹Sometimes we are punished
with a serious illness
    and aching joints.
²⁰Merely the thought
of our favorite food
    makes our stomachs sick,
²¹and we become so skinny
    that our bones stick out.
²²We feel death and the grave
    taking us in their grip.

²³One of a thousand angels
then comes to our rescue
    by saying we are innocent.
²⁴The angel shows kindness,
commanding death to release us,
    because the price was paid.
²⁵Our health is restored,
we feel young again,
²⁶    and we ask God to accept us.
Then we joyfully worship God,
and we are rewarded
    because we are innocent.
²⁷When that happens,
    we tell everyone,
“I sinned and did wrong,
    but God forgave me
²⁸and rescued me from death!
    Now I will see the light.”

²⁹God gives each of us
    chance after chance
³⁰to be saved from death
and brought into the light
    that gives life.
³¹So, Job, pay attention
    and don't interrupt,
³²though I would gladly listen
to anything you say
    that proves you are right.
³³Otherwise, listen in silence
    to my wisdom.