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.
33:32 If you have any words, reply to me;
speak, for I want to justify you.
33:33 If not, you listen to me;
be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.”
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