Job 33 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

Elihu Rebukes Job

Job 33:1

Job 33:1“But now, hear my speech, O Job,
and listen to all my words.

Job 33:2

Job 33:2Behold, I open my mouth;
the tongue in my mouth speaks.

Job 33:3

Job 33:3My words declare the uprightness of my heart,
and what my lips know they speak sincerely.

Job 33:4

Job 33:4The Spirit of God has made me,
and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

Job 33:5

Job 33:5Answer me, if you can;
set your words in order before me; take your stand.

Job 33:6

Job 33:6Behold, I am toward God as you are;
I too was pinched off from a piece of clay.

Job 33:7

Job 33:7Behold, no fear of me need terrify you;
my pressure will not be heavy upon you.

Job 33:8

Job 33:8“Surely you have spoken in my ears,
and I have heard the sound of your words.

Job 33:9

Job 33:9You say, ‘I am pure, without transgression;
I am clean, and there is no iniquity in me.

Job 33:10

Job 33:10Behold, he finds occasions against me,
he counts me as his enemy,

Job 33:11

Job 33:11he puts my feet in the stocks
and watches all my paths.’

Job 33:12

Job 33:12“Behold, in this you are not right. I will answer you,
for God is greater than man.

Job 33:13

Job 33:13Why do you contend against him,
saying, ‘He will answer none of man’s[fn] words’?[fn]

Job 33:14

Job 33:14For God speaks in one way,
and in two, though man does not perceive it.

Job 33:15

Job 33:15In a dream, in a vision of the night,
when deep sleep falls on men,
while they slumber on their beds,

Job 33:16

Job 33:16then he opens the ears of men
and terrifies[fn] them with warnings,

Job 33:17

Job 33:17that he may turn man aside from his deed
and conceal pride from a man;

Job 33:18

Job 33:18he keeps back his soul from the pit,
his life from perishing by the sword.

Job 33:19

Job 33:19“Man is also rebuked with pain on his bed
and with continual strife in his bones,

Job 33:20

Job 33:20so that his life loathes bread,
and his appetite the choicest food.

Job 33:21

Job 33:21His flesh is so wasted away that it cannot be seen,
and his bones that were not seen stick out.

Job 33:22

Job 33:22His soul draws near the pit,
and his life to those who bring death.

Job 33:23

Job 33:23If there be for him an angel,
a mediator, one of the thousand,
to declare to man what is right for him,

Job 33:24

Job 33:24and he is merciful to him, and says,
‘Deliver him from going down into the pit;
I have found a ransom;

Job 33:25

Job 33:25let his flesh become fresh with youth;
let him return to the days of his youthful vigor’;

Job 33:26

Job 33:26then man[fn] prays to God, and he accepts him;
he sees his face with a shout of joy,
and he restores to man his righteousness.

Job 33:27

Job 33:27He sings before men and says:
‘I sinned and perverted what was right,
and it was not repaid to me.

Job 33:28

Job 33:28He has redeemed my soul from going down into the pit,
and my life shall look upon the light.’

Job 33:29

Job 33:29“Behold, God does all these things,
twice, three times, with a man,

Job 33:30

Job 33:30to bring back his soul from the pit,
that he may be lighted with the light of life.

Job 33:31

Job 33:31Pay attention, O Job, listen to me;
be silent, and I will speak.

Job 33:32

Job 33:32If you have any words, answer me;
speak, for I desire to justify you.

Job 33:33

Job 33:33If not, listen to me;
be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.”

See the ESV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

ESV Footnotes

(33:13)

Hebrew his

(33:13)

Or He will not answer for any of his own words

(33:16)

Or seals

(33:26)

Hebrew he

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For more information on this translation, see the ESV Preface.