² “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?^(B)

² “Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty?^[a]
    Anyone who argues with God must respond.”^(A)

⁴ “See, I am of small account; what shall I answer you?
    I lay my hand on my mouth.^(B)
5 I have spoken once, and I will not answer,
    twice but will proceed no further.”^(C)

⁸ “Surely, you have spoken in my hearing,
    and I have heard the sound of your words.
⁹ You say, ‘I am clean, without transgression;
    I am pure, and there is no iniquity in me.^(B)
10 Look, he finds occasions against me;
    he counts me as his enemy;^(C)
11 he puts my feet in the stocks
    and watches all my paths.’^(D)

¹² “But in this you are not right. I will answer you:
    God is greater than any mortal.
¹³ Why do you contend against him,
    saying, ‘He will answer none of my^[a] words’?^(E)
14 For God speaks in one way
    and in two, though people do not perceive it.^(F)
15 In a dream, in a vision of the night,
    when deep sleep falls on mortals,
    while they slumber on their beds,^(G)
16 then he opens their ears
    and terrifies them with warnings,^(H)
17 that he may turn them aside from their deeds
    and keep them from pride,
¹⁸ to spare their souls from the Pit,
    their lives from traversing the River.