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Elihu Claims to Speak for God

¹ "However, please ^(C1)hear my speech, Job,
And listen to all my words.

² "Behold now, I open my mouth,
My tongue in my ^(F1)mouth speaks.

³ "My words are from the integrity of my heart,
And my lips speak ^(C1)knowledge sincerely.

⁴ "The ^(C1)Spirit of God has made me,
And the ^(C2)breath of ^(F1)the Almighty gives me life.

⁵ "^(C1)Refute me if you can;
Line up against me, take your stand.

⁶ "Behold, I belong to God, like you;
I too have been ^(F1)formed out of the ^(C1)clay.

⁷ "Behold, ^(C1)no fear of me should terrify you,
Nor should my pressure weigh heavily on you.

⁸ "You have in fact spoken ^(F1)while I listened,
And I heard the sound of your words:

⁹ 'I am ^(C1)pure, ^(C2)without wrongdoing;
I am innocent and there ^(C3)is no guilt in me.

¹⁰ 'Behold, He ^(F1)invents ^(F2)criticisms against me;
He ^(C1)counts me as His enemy.

¹¹ 'He ^(C1)puts my feet in the stocks;
He watches all my paths.'

¹² "Behold, let me respond to you, ^(C1)you are not right in this,
For God is greater than mankind.

¹³ "Why do you ^(C1)complain to Him
That He does not give an account of all His doings?

¹⁴ "Indeed ^(C1)God speaks once,
Or twice, yet no one notices it.

¹⁵ "In a ^(C1)dream, a vision of the night,
When deep sleep falls on people,
While they slumber in their beds,

¹⁶ Then ^(C1)He opens the ears of people,
And horrifies them with warnings,

¹⁷ So that He may turn a person away from bad conduct,
And ^(F1)keep a man from pride;

¹⁸ He ^(C1)keeps his soul back from the pit,
And his life from perishing by the ^(C2)spear.

¹⁹ "A person is also rebuked by ^(C1)pain in his bed,
And with constant complaint in his bones,

²⁰ So that his life ^(C1)loathes bread,
And his soul, food ^(F1)that he should crave.

²¹ "His ^(C1)flesh wastes away from sight,
And his ^(C2)bones, which were not seen, stick out.

²² "Then ^(C1)his soul comes near to the pit,
And his life to those who bring death.

²³ "If there is an ^(C1)interceding angel for him,
One out of a thousand,
To remind a person of what is ^(F1)right for him,

²⁴ And he is gracious to him, and says,
'Free him from ^(C1)going down to the pit,
I have found a ^(C2)ransom';

²⁵ Let his flesh become fresher than in youth,
Let him return to the days of his youthful vigor;

²⁶ Then he will ^(C1)pray to God, and He will accept him,
So that ^(C2)he may see His face with joy,
And He will restore His righteousness to that person.

²⁷ "He will sing to people and say,
'I ^(C1)have sinned and perverted what is right,
And it is not ^(C2)proper for me.

²⁸ 'He has redeemed my soul from going to the pit,
And my life will ^(C1)see the light.'

²⁹ "Behold, God does ^(C1)all these things for a man two or three times,

³⁰ To ^(C1)bring back his soul from the pit,
So that he may be enlightened with the light of life.

³¹ "Pay attention, Job, listen to me;
Keep silent, and let me speak.

³² "Then if ^(F1)you have anything to say, answer me;
Speak, for I would take pleasure in justifying you.

³³ "If not, ^(C1)listen to me;
Keep silent, and I will teach you wisdom."