Job 33
33
Elihu Speaks
Job, Listen to Me!
1Job, listen to me!
Pay close attention.
* 2Everything I will say
3is true and sincere,
4just as surely as the Spirit
of God All-Powerful#33.4 the Spirit of God All-Powerful: Or “God All-Powerful.”
gave me the breath of life.
5Now line up your arguments
and prepare to face me.
6We each were made from clay,
and God has no favorites,
7so don't be afraid of me
or what I might do.
I Have Heard You Argue
8I have heard you argue
9that you are innocent,
guilty of nothing.
10You claim that God
has made you his enemy,
11 #
Job 13.27. that he has bound your feet
and blocked your path.
12But, Job, you're wrong—
God is greater
than any human.
13So why do you challenge God
to answer you?#33.13 answer you: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 13.
14God speaks in different ways,
and we don't always
recognize his voice.
* 15#Job 4.13. Sometimes in the night,
he uses terrifying dreams
16to give us warnings.
17God does this to make us turn
from sin and pride
18and to protect us
from being swept away
to the world of the dead.
19Sometimes we are punished
with a serious illness
and aching joints.
20Merely the thought
of our favorite food
makes our stomachs sick,
21and we become so skinny
that our bones stick out.
22We feel death and the grave
taking us in their grip.
23One of a thousand angels
then comes to our rescue
by saying we are innocent.
24The angel shows kindness,
commanding death to release us,
because the price was paid.
25Our health is restored,
we feel young again,
26and we ask God to accept us.
Then we joyfully worship God,
and we are rewarded
because we are innocent.
27When that happens,
we tell everyone,
“I sinned and did wrong,
but God forgave me
28and rescued me from death!
Now I will see the light.”
29God gives each of us
chance after chance
30to be saved from death
and brought into the light
that gives life.
31So, Job, pay attention
and don't interrupt,
32though I would gladly listen
to anything you say
that proves you are right.
33Otherwise, listen in silence
to my wisdom.
Currently Selected:
Job 33: CEV
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.