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¹ "But now, O Job, listen to my words,
and hear everything I have to say!
² See now, I have opened my mouth;
my tongue in my mouth has spoken.
³ My words come from the uprightness of my heart,
and my lips will utter knowledge sincerely.
⁴ The Spirit of God has made me,
and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
⁵ Reply to me, if you can;
set your arguments in order before me
and take your stand!
⁶ Look, I am just like you in relation to God;
I too have been molded from clay.
⁷ Therefore no fear of me should terrify you,
nor should my pressure be heavy on you.

⁸ "Indeed, you have said in my hearing
(I heard the sound of the words!):
⁹ ‘I am pure, without transgression;
I am clean and have no iniquity.
¹⁰ Yet God finds occasions with me;
he regards me as his enemy!
¹¹ He puts my feet in shackles;
he watches closely all my paths.'
¹² Now in this, you are not right—I answer you,
for God is greater than a human being.
¹³ Why do you contend against him,
that he does not answer all a person's words?

¹⁴ "For God speaks, the first time in one way,
the second time in another,
though a person does not perceive it.
¹⁵ In a dream, a night vision,
when deep sleep falls on people
as they sleep in their beds.
¹⁶ Then he gives a revelation to people,
and terrifies them with warnings,
¹⁷ to turn a person from his sin,
and to cover a person's pride.
¹⁸ He spares a person's life from corruption,
his very life from crossing over the river.
¹⁹ Or a person is chastened by pain on his bed,
and with the continual strife of his bones,
²⁰ so that his life loathes food,
and his soul rejects appetizing fare.
²¹ His flesh wastes away from sight,
and his bones, which were not seen,
are easily visible.
²² He draws near to the place of corruption,
and his life to the messengers of death.
²³ If there is an angel beside him,
one mediator out of a thousand,
to tell a person what constitutes his uprightness;
²⁴ and if God is gracious to him and says,
‘Spare him from going down
to the place of corruption,
I have found a ransom for him,'
²⁵ then his flesh is restored like a youth's;
he returns to the days of his youthful vigor.
²⁶ He entreats God, and God delights in him,
he sees God's face with rejoicing,
and God restores to him his righteousness.
²⁷ That person sings to others, saying:
‘I have sinned and falsified what is right,
but I was not punished according to what I deserved.
²⁸ He redeemed my life
from going down to the place of corruption,
and my life sees the light!'

²⁹ "Indeed, God does all these things,
twice, three times, in his dealings with a person,
³⁰ to turn back his life from the place of corruption,
that he may be enlightened with the light of life.
³¹ Pay attention, Job—listen to me;
be silent, and I will speak.
³² If you have any words, reply to me;
speak, for I want to justify you.
³³ If not, you listen to me;
be silent, and I will teach you wisdom."