Job 33–37

33And now, Job, listen carefully to all that I have to say.

²I am ready to say what’s on my mind.

³All my words are sincere,

and I am speaking the truth.

⁴God’s spirit made me and gave me life.

⁵Answer me if you can. Prepare your arguments.

⁶You and I are the same in God’s sight,

both of us were formed from clay.

⁷So you have no reason to fear me;

I will not overpower you.

⁸Now this is what I heard you say:

⁹“I am not guilty; I have done nothing wrong.

I am innocent and free from sin.

¹⁰But God finds excuses for attacking me

and treats me like an enemy.

^11*He binds chains on my feet;

he watches every move I make.”

¹²But I tell you, Job, you are wrong.

God is greater than any human being.

¹³Why do you accuse God

of never answering our complaints?

¹⁴Although God speaks again and again,

no one pays attention to what he says.

^15*At night when people are asleep,

God speaks in dreams and visions.

¹⁶He makes them listen to what he says,

and they are frightened at his warnings.

¹⁷God speaks to make them stop their sinning

and to save them from becoming proud.

¹⁸He will not let them be destroyed;

he saves them from death itself.

¹⁹God corrects people by sending sickness

and filling their bodies with pain.

²⁰Those who are sick lose their appetites,

and even the finest food looks revolting.

²¹Their bodies waste away to nothing;

you can see all their bones;

²²they are about to go to the world of the dead.

²³Perhaps an angel may come to their aid—

one of God’s thousands of angels, who remind us of our duty.

²⁴In mercy the angel will say, “Release them!

They are not to go down to the world of the dead.

Here is the ransom to set them free.”

²⁵Their bodies will grow young and strong again;

²⁶when they pray, God will answer;

they will worship God with joy;

God will set things right for them again.

²⁷Each one will say in public, “I have sinned.

I have not done right, but God spared me.

²⁸He kept me from going to the world of the dead,

and I am still alive.”

²⁹God does all this again and again;

³⁰he saves a person’s life,

and gives him the joy of living.

³¹Now, Job, listen to what I am saying;

be quiet and let me speak.

³²But if you have something to say, let me hear it;

I would gladly admit you are in the right.

³³But if not, be quiet and listen to me,

and I will teach you how to be wise.

34You men are so wise, so clever;

listen now to what I am saying.

³You know good food when you taste it,

but not wise words when you hear them.

⁴It is up to us to decide the case.

⁵Job claims that he is innocent,

that God refuses to give him justice.

⁶He asks, “How could I lie and say I am wrong?

I am fatally wounded, but I am sinless.”

⁷Have you ever seen anyone like this man Job?

He never shows respect for God.

⁸He likes the company of evil people

and goes about with sinners.

⁹He says that it never does any good

to try to follow God’s will.

¹⁰Listen to me, you men who understand!

Will Almighty God do what is wrong?

^11*He rewards people for what they do

and treats them as they deserve.

¹²Almighty God does not do evil;

he is never unjust to anyone.

¹³Did God get his power from someone else?

Did someone put him in charge of the world?

¹⁴If God took back the breath of life,

¹⁵then everyone living would die

and turn into dust again.

¹⁶Now listen to me, if you are wise.

¹⁷Are you condemning the righteous God?

Do you think that he hates justice?

¹⁸God condemns kings and rulers

when they are worthless or wicked.

¹⁹He does not take the side of rulers

nor favour the rich against the poor,

for he created everyone.

²⁰Someone may suddenly die at night.

God strikes people down and they perish;

he kills the mighty with no effort at all.

²¹He watches every step we take.

²²There is no darkness dark enough

to hide a sinner from God.

²³God does not need to set a time^l

for us to go and be judged by him.

²⁴He does not need an investigation

to remove leaders and replace them with others.

²⁵Because he knows what they do

he overthrows them and crushes them by night.

²⁶He punishes sinners where all can see it,

²⁷because they have stopped following him

and ignored all his commands.

²⁸They forced the poor to cry out to God,

and he heard their calls for help.

²⁹If God decided to do nothing at all,

no one could criticize him.

If he hid his face, we would be helpless.

³⁰There would be nothing that nations could do

to keep godless oppressors from ruling them.

³¹Job, have you confessed your sins to God

and promised not to sin again?

³²Have you asked God to show you your faults,

and have you agreed to stop doing evil?

³³Since you object to what God does,

can you expect him to do what you want? The decision is yours, not mine;

tell us now what you think.

³⁴Any sensible person will surely agree;

and the wise who hear me will say

³⁵that Job is speaking from ignorance

and that nothing he says makes sense.

³⁶Think through everything that Job says;

you will see that he talks like an evil man.

³⁷To his sins he adds rebellion;

in front of us all he mocks God.

35It is not right, Job, for you to say

that you are innocent in God’s sight,

³or to ask God, “How does my sin affect you?

What have I gained by not sinning?”

⁴I am going to answer you and your friends too.

⁵Look at the sky! See how high the clouds are!

^6*If you sin, that does no harm to God.

If you do wrong many times, does that affect him?

^7*Do you help God by being so righteous?

There is nothing God needs from you.

^8*Others suffer from your sins,

and the good you do helps them.

⁹When people are oppressed, they groan;

they cry for someone to save them.

¹⁰But they don’t turn to God, their Creator,

who gives them hope in their darkest hours.

¹¹They don’t turn to God, who makes us wise,

wiser than any animal or bird.

¹²They cry for help, but God doesn’t answer,

for they are proud and evil.

¹³It is useless for them to cry out;

Almighty God does not see or hear them.

¹⁴Job, you say you can’t see God;

but wait patiently—your case is before him.

¹⁵You think that God does not punish,

that he pays little attention to sin.

¹⁶It is useless for you to go on talking;

it is clear you don’t know what you are saying.

36Be patient and listen a little longer

to what I am saying on God’s behalf.

³My knowledge is wide; I will use what I know

to show that God, my Creator, is just.

⁴Nothing I say to you is false;

you see before you a truly wise man.

⁵How strong God is! He despises no one;

there is nothing he doesn’t understand.

⁶He does not let sinners live on,

and he always treats the poor with justice.

⁷He protects those who are righteous;

he allows them to rule like kings

and lets them be honoured for ever.

⁸But if people are bound in chains,

suffering for what they have done,

⁹God shows them their sins and their pride.

¹⁰He makes them listen to his warning

to turn away from evil.

¹¹If they obey God and serve him,

they live out their lives in peace and prosperity.

¹²But if not, they will die in ignorance

and cross the stream into the world of the dead.

¹³Those who are godless keep on being angry,

and even when punished, they don’t pray for help.

¹⁴They die while they are still young,

worn out by a life of disgrace.

¹⁵But God teaches people through suffering

and uses distress to open their eyes.

¹⁶God brought you out of trouble,

and let you enjoy security;

your table was piled high with food.

¹⁷But now you are being punished as you deserve.

¹⁸Be careful not to let bribes deceive you,

or riches lead you astray.

¹⁹It will do you no good to cry out for help;

all your strength can’t help you now.

²⁰Don’t wish for night to come,

the time when nations will perish.

²¹Be careful not to turn to evil;

your suffering was sent to keep you from it.

²²Remember how great is God’s power;

he is the greatest teacher of all.

²³No one can tell God what to do

or accuse him of doing evil.

²⁴He has always been praised for what he does;

you also must praise him.

²⁵Everyone has seen what he has done;

but we can only watch from a distance.^m

²⁶We cannot fully know his greatness

or count the number of his years.

²⁷It is God who takes water from the earth

and turns it into drops of rain.

²⁸He lets the rain pour from the clouds

in showers for the whole human race.

²⁹No one knows how the clouds move

or how the thunder roars

through the sky, where God dwells.

³⁰He sends lightning through all the sky,

but the depths of the sea remain dark.

³¹This is how he feedsⁿ the people

and provides an abundance of food.

³²He seizes the lightning with his hands

and commands it to hit the mark.

³³Thunder announces the approaching storm,

and the cattle know it is coming.

37The storm makes my heart beat wildly.

²Listen, all of you,

to the voice of God, to the thunder that comes from his mouth.

³He sends the lightning across the sky,

from one end of the earth to the other.

⁴Then the roar of his voice is heard,

the majestic sound of thunder,

and all the while the lightning flashes.

⁵At God’s command amazing things happen,

wonderful things that we can’t understand.

⁶He commands snow to fall on the earth,

and sends torrents of drenching rain.

⁷He brings our work to a stop;

he shows us what he can do.^o

⁸The wild animals go to their dens.

⁹The storm winds come from the south,

and the biting cold from the north.

¹⁰The breath of God freezes the waters,

and turns them to solid ice.

¹¹Lightning flashes from the clouds,^p

¹²as they move at God’s will.

They do all that God commands,

everywhere throughout the world.

¹³God sends rain to water the earth;

he may send it to punish us,

or to show us his favour.

¹⁴Pause a moment, Job, and listen;

consider the wonderful things God does.

¹⁵Do you know how God gives the command

and makes lightning flash from the clouds?

¹⁶Do you know how clouds float in the sky,

the work of God’s amazing skill?

¹⁷No, you can only suffer in the heat

when the south wind oppresses the land.

¹⁸Can you help God stretch out the sky

and make it as hard as polished metal?

¹⁹Teach us what to say to God;

our minds are blank; we have nothing to say.

²⁰I won’t ask to speak with God;

why…