Job 33

So now, Job, please listen to what I say. Pay attention to every one of my words.

1Wherefore, Job, I pray thee, hear my speeches, and hearken to all my words.

NoteThe speaker is Elihu, a younger onlooker who broke in at chapter 32 after Job's three friends gave up arguing with him. He is the only speaker in the book who addresses Job by name, and he does it repeatedly, part of the direct, face-to-face manner he keeps claiming for himself.

2Look, I have opened my mouth now. My tongue is already forming the words I am about to speak.

2Behold, now I have opened my mouth, my tongue hath spoken in my mouth.

3My words come from an honest heart. My lips will say plainly what I know.

3My words shall be of the uprightness of my heart: and my lips shall utter knowledge clearly.

4The Spirit of God made me. The breath of the Almighty gives me life.

4The spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.

NoteOne Hebrew word covers 'breath', 'wind' and 'spirit', so the two lines of this verse are near-twins rather than two separate ideas. The wording echoes the picture of God breathing life into the first man; Elihu is saying he is a made creature like Job, not speaking with any special authority.

5Answer me if you can. Get your case ready and stand up and face me.

5If thou canst answer me, set thy words in order before me, stand up.

6Look, before God I am no different from you. I was shaped out of clay, just as you were.

6Behold, I am according to thy wish in God’s stead: I also am formed out of the clay.

NoteThe King James 'I am according to thy wish in God's stead' reflects a genuinely difficult line. It can mean 'I stand toward God exactly as you do' (so we are equals in this argument), or 'I am here in God's place, as you asked for', Job had wished for someone to act as go-between or umpire between himself and God. 'Formed out of clay' uses the image of a potter pinching off a lump of clay, the standard picture of how a human being is made.

7So there is no reason to be afraid of me. I will not press down on you with a heavy hand.

7Behold, my terror shall not make thee afraid, neither shall my hand be heavy upon thee.

NoteJob had complained that he could not argue his case with God because God's terror overwhelmed him and God's hand pressed him down. Elihu is quoting those complaints back and saying that none of that applies to a human opponent like himself.

8You have certainly spoken where I could hear it. I heard the sound of your own words when you said this:

8Surely thou hast spoken in mine hearing, and I have heard the voice of thy words, saying,

9'I am clean. I have done nothing wrong. I am innocent, and there is no guilt in me.

9I am clean without transgression, I am innocent; neither is there iniquity in me.

NoteVerses 9 to 11 are Elihu quoting Job, or rather summarizing him. Job never said these exact words, and the claim 'there is no guilt in me' is stronger than anything Job actually argued; this is Elihu's version of Job's position.

10Yet God keeps finding reasons to blame me. He treats me as if I were his enemy.

10Behold, he findeth occasions against me, he counteth me for his enemy,

11He locks my feet in wooden clamps. He watches every step I take.'

11He putteth my feet in the stocks, he marketh all my paths.

NoteStocks were a wooden frame that clamped a prisoner's feet or ankles so he could not move, a standard restraint for someone under arrest. 'He marketh all my paths' means God watches every move, in the sense of a guard keeping the prisoner under surveillance.

12Look, you are wrong about this, and I will answer you: God is greater than any human being.

12Behold, in this thou art not just: I will answer thee, that God is greater than man.

13Why do you argue with him, complaining that he does not explain anything he does?

13Why dost thou strive against him? for he giveth not account of any of his matters.

NoteThe Hebrew can be read two ways: that God gives no account of what he does, or that God does not answer any of the words a person addresses to him. Either way the complaint is about God's silence, not his conduct.

14God speaks in one way, and then in another, but people do not notice it.

14For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not.

Note'Once, yea twice' is a Hebrew way of saying 'in one way and then another', or simply 'again and again'. It is not a count of two occasions.

15He speaks in a dream, in a vision at night, when people fall into a deep sleep as they lie in their beds.

15In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed;

NoteThe 'deep sleep' here is a specific Hebrew word used for an unnaturally heavy, God-sent sleep, the same word used when the first man is put to sleep, and when Abraham falls into a trance. Dreams were widely treated in the ancient world as a normal channel for messages from a god.

16That is when he opens their ears, and the warnings he gives them are fixed firmly in their minds.

16Then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction,

Note'Sealeth their instruction' uses the image of stamping a document with a seal, which certified it and made it binding. The Hebrew of the second half is uncertain: some read it as God certifying and fixing the warning, others as God terrifying the sleeper with it.

17He does it to turn a person away from what he planned to do, and to keep him from being proud.

17That he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man.

18He does it to hold that person back from the pit of death, and to keep his life from ending by the sword.

18He keepeth back his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword.

Note'The pit' translates a Hebrew word meaning both a grave and the underworld where the dead go. It runs through this whole chapter as the thing a person is being rescued from, and does not carry the modern sense of a place of punishment.

19A person may also be corrected by pain as he lies in bed, with a steady ache deep in his bones.

19He is chastened also with pain upon his bed, and the multitude of his bones with strong pain:

20It gets so bad that he cannot stand the sight of food, not even the meals he used to love.

20So that his life abhorreth bread, and his soul dainty meat.

NoteIn 1611 'meat' meant food of any kind, not flesh specifically, and 'dainty' meant choice or desirable rather than delicate. The line is about a sick man losing his appetite even for his favorite food.

21His body wastes away until there is nothing left to see, and bones that were hidden now stick out.

21His flesh is consumed away, that it cannot be seen; and his bones that were not seen stick out.

22He comes close to the pit of death. His life comes close to those who bring death.

22Yea, his soul draweth near unto the grave, and his life to the destroyers.

Note'The destroyers' translates a Hebrew word meaning 'those who put to death'. It may mean death-dealing powers or messengers imagined as coming for the dying man, matching 'the pit' in the first half of the verse; the vagueness is in the original.

23But if there is a messenger to speak for him, someone to explain things, one out of a thousand, to tell the man what is right for him,

23If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to shew unto man his uprightness:

Note'Messenger' and 'angel' are the same word in Hebrew, so the figure here may be a human spokesman or a heavenly one, the text does not settle it. 'Interpreter' translates a word for a go-between: someone who speaks for one party to another, whether as an envoy, an advocate, or a translator. 'One among a thousand' marks how rare such a figure is.

24and to be kind to him and say, 'Spare him from going down to the pit. I have found a payment to set him free,'

24Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom.

NoteA 'ransom' was the price paid to buy someone out of a penalty, a debt, or slavery, in law, the sum that could be accepted instead of a life that was forfeit. Who pays it and who receives it is left unstated here.

25then his body will become fresh again like a child's. He will go back to the strength he had when he was young.

25His flesh shall be fresher than a child’s: he shall return to the days of his youth:

26He will pray to God, and God will accept him. He will see God's face and shout for joy, and God will set that man right again.

26He shall pray unto God, and he will be favourable unto him: and he shall see his face with joy: for he will render unto man his righteousness.

Note'To see his face' is court language: being admitted to the presence of a king was the sign of restored favor, and being shut out was the sign of disgrace. The last clause is ambiguous in the Hebrew: it can mean God restores the man to his right standing, or that God grants his own righteousness to the man.

27Then he will sing in front of other people and say, 'I sinned. I twisted what was right. But I was not paid back the way I deserved.

27He looketh upon men, and if any say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not;

Note'It profited me not' translates a phrase that most naturally means 'it was not repaid to me in kind': that is, the speaker did not get the punishment his conduct had earned. The Hebrew verb for what he does in front of others can mean either 'sings' or 'looks'; the older reading has God looking on men, the more common modern reading has the rescued man singing his confession publicly.

28God rescued me from going down into the pit, and I will live to see the light.'

28He will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light.

NoteTo 'see the light' means simply to go on living. Life and daylight, death and darkness, are paired throughout the Hebrew Bible, which is why the pit in the previous line is its opposite.

29Look, God does all these things for a person, two times, even three times,

29Lo, all these things worketh God oftentimes with man,

Note'Two times, even three times' is another Hebrew idiom for repeated action, like 'once, yea twice' in verse 14. It counts the pattern as habitual, not as exactly three occasions.

30to bring him back from the pit, so that the light of life may shine on him.

30To bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living.

31Pay close attention, Job. Listen to me. Be quiet, and I will speak.

31Mark well, O Job, hearken unto me: hold thy peace, and I will speak.

32But if you have something to say, answer me. Speak up, because I would be glad to clear your name.

32If thou hast anything to say, answer me: speak, for I desire to justify thee.

Note'Justify' is a courtroom word: to declare someone in the right, to clear them of the charge. Elihu is offering to pronounce Job innocent if Job can make the case, not offering to forgive him.

33If you have nothing to say, then listen to me. Be quiet, and I will teach you wisdom.

33If not, hearken unto me: hold thy peace, and I shall teach thee wisdom.