Job Job, chapter Book of Job, chapter 33
Elihu Rebukes Job
“ But now, O Job, hear my speech,
and listen to all my words.
Behold, I will open my mouth;
my address is on the tip of my tongue.
My words are from an upright heart,
and my lips speak sincerely what I know.
The Spirit of God has made me,
and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.Gen 1:2; Psa 33:6; Psa 104:30
Refute me if you can;
prepare your case and confront me.
I am just like you before God;
I was also formed from clay.Job 10:9; Ecc 12:7
Surely no fear of me should terrify you;
nor will my hand be heavy upon you.
Surely you have spoken in my hearing,
and I have heard these very words:
‘I am pure, without transgression;
I am clean, with no iniquity in me.Job 10:7; Job 16:17; Job 23:10
Yet God finds occasions against me;
He counts me as His enemy.Job 13:24; Job 19:11
He puts my feet in the stocks;
He watches over all my paths.’Job 13:27
Behold, you are not right in this matter.
I will answer you, for God is greater than man.Job 34:7
Why do you complain to Him
that He answers nothing a man asks?33:13 Or that He answers for none of His actions
For God speaks in one way and in another,
yet no one notices.Num 23:19; 1Sa 15:29
In a dream,
in a vision in the night,
when deep sleep falls upon men
as they slumber on their beds,Job 4:13
He opens their ears
and terrifies them with warnings2Sa 7:27; Isa 50:4
to turn a man from wrongdoing
and keep him from pride,
to preserve his soul from the Pit
and his life from perishing by the sword.
A man is also chastened on his bed
with pain and constant distress in his bones,
so that he detests his bread,
and his soul loathes his favorite food.Psa 107:18
His flesh wastes away from sight,
and his hidden bones protrude.
He draws near to the Pit,
and his life to the messengers of death.
Yet if there is a messenger on his side,
one mediator in a thousand,
to tell a man what is right for him,Gen 48:16; Zec 3:1; 1Ti 2:5
to be gracious to him and say,
‘Spare him from going down to the Pit;
I have found his ransom,’Psa 91:15; Isa 43:1; Hos 13:14
then his flesh is refreshed like a child’s;
he returns to the days of his youth.
He prays to God and finds favor;
he sees God’s face and shouts for joy,
and God restores His righteousness
to that man.Psa 50:15; Isa 58:9
Then he sings before33:27 Or Then he looks upon men
with these words:
‘I have sinned and perverted what was right;
yet I did not get what I deserved.
He redeemed my soul from going down to the Pit,
and I will live to see the light.’1Co 11:32
Behold, all these things God does to a man,
two or even three times,
to bring back his soul from the Pit,
that he may be enlightened with the light of life.Psa 56:13; Psa 103:4
Pay attention, Job, and listen to me;
be silent, and I will speak.
But if you have something to say, answer me;
speak up, for I would like to vindicate you.
But if not, then listen to me;
be quiet, and I will teach you wisdom.”