Job 33  Tree of Life Version

⁴ “The Ruach of God has made me;
    the breath of Shaddai gives me life.
⁵ Answer me, if you can;
    array yourselves before me;
    take your stand!
⁶ Look, I am the same as you before God;
    I too am formed from clay.
⁷ See, no fear of me should terrify you,
    nor should my pressure be heavy on you.

⁸ “Indeed, you have said in my hearing,
    —I heard the sound of the words:

⁹ ‘I am pure, without transgression;
    I am innocent, without iniquity.
¹⁰ Yet, He has found fault with me;
    He considers me His enemy.
¹¹ He puts my feet in the shackles;
    He watches closely all my paths.’

¹² “But in this, you are not right—
    I answer you, for God is greater than a mortal.
¹³ Why do you contend against Him
    that He does not answer all His words.
¹⁴ Indeed, God speaks once, even twice,
    yet no one perceives it.
¹⁵ “In a dream, in a vision of the night,
    when deep sleep falls on men, as they slumber in bed,
¹⁶ Then He opens the ears of men
    and seals their instruction,
¹⁷ in order to turn a man from his conduct
    and to cover a person’s pride.
¹⁸ He spares his soul from the Pit
    and his life from perishing by the sword.
¹⁹ Or a person is chastened with pain on his bed,
    with continual strife in his bones,
²⁰ so that his life loathes bread,
    and his soul, desirable food.
²¹ His flesh wastes away from sight,
    and his bones, once unseen, now stick out.
²² His soul draws near to the Pit
    and his life to the messengers of death.

²³ “If there is an angel beside him, a messenger, one out of a thousand,
to declare to a man his uprightness,
²⁴ then He is gracious to him, and says
‘Deliver him from going down to the Pit—
    I have found a ransom;’
²⁵ let his flesh be restored like a child’s;
    let him return to the days of his youth.’
²⁶ He entreats God and is accepted by Him;
    he sees His face with a shout of joy;
    He restores to the man his righteousness.
²⁷ He sings to others, saying,
    ‘I have sinned and perverted what is right,
    but I did not get what I deserved.
²⁸ He redeemed my soul from going down to the Pit,
    and my life sees the light.’

²⁹ “Indeed, God does all these things,
    twice, even three times with a man,
³⁰ to bring his soul back from the Pit,
    that he may be illuminated with the light of life.
³¹ Pay attention, Job, listen to me;
    Be silent, and I will speak.
³² If you have anything to say, answer me.
    Speak, for I want to justify you.
³³ If not, then listen to me.
    Be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.”