Job 33:14–28

¹⁴For God speaks again and again,

though people do not recognize it.

¹⁵He speaks in dreams, in visions of the night,

when deep sleep falls on people

as they lie in their beds.

¹⁶He whispers in their ears

and terrifies them with warnings.

¹⁷He makes them turn from doing wrong;

he keeps them from pride.

¹⁸He protects them from the grave,

from crossing over the river of death.

¹⁹“Or God disciplines people with pain on their sickbeds,

with ceaseless aching in their bones.

²⁰They lose their appetite

for even the most delicious food.

²¹Their flesh wastes away,

and their bones stick out.

²²They are at death’s door;

the angels of death wait for them.

²³“But if an angel from heaven appears—

a special messenger to intercede for a person

and declare that he is upright—

²⁴he will be gracious and say,

‘Rescue him from the grave,

for I have found a ransom for his life.’

²⁵Then his body will become as healthy as a child’s,

firm and youthful again.

²⁶When he prays to God,

he will be accepted.

And God will receive him with joy

and restore him to good standing.

²⁷He will declare to his friends,

‘I sinned and twisted the truth,

but it was not worth it.

²⁸God rescued me from the grave,

and now my life is filled with light.’