“I am young in years,
    and you are old;
that is why I was fearful,
    not daring to tell you what I know.
⁷ I thought, ‘Age should speak;
    advanced years should teach wisdom.’
⁸ But it is the spirit^[b] in a person,
    the breath of the Almighty, that gives them understanding.
⁹ It is not only the old^[c] who are wise,
    not only the aged who understand what is right.

¹⁰ “Therefore I say: Listen to me;
    I too will tell you what I know.
¹¹ I waited while you spoke,
    I listened to your reasoning;
while you were searching for words,
¹²     I gave you my full attention.
But not one of you has proved Job wrong;
    none of you has answered his arguments.
¹³ Do not say, ‘We have found wisdom;
    let God, not a man, refute him.’
¹⁴ But Job has not marshaled his words against me,
    and I will not answer him with your arguments.

¹⁵ “They are dismayed and have no more to say;
    words have failed them.
¹⁶ Must I wait, now that they are silent,
    now that they stand there with no reply?
¹⁷ I too will have my say;
    I too will tell what I know.
¹⁸ For I am full of words,
    and the spirit within me compels me;
¹⁹ inside I am like bottled-up wine,
    like new wineskins ready to burst.
²⁰ I must speak and find relief;
    I must open my lips and reply.
²¹ I will show no partiality,
    nor will I flatter anyone;
²² for if I were skilled in flattery,
    my Maker would soon take me away.

33 “But now, Job, listen to my words;
    pay attention to everything I say.
² I am about to open my mouth;
    my words are on the tip of my tongue.
³ My words come from an upright heart;
    my lips sincerely speak what I know.
⁴ The Spirit of God has made me;
    the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
⁵ Answer me then, if you can;
    stand up and argue your case before me.
⁶ I am the same as you in God’s sight;
    I too am a piece of clay.
⁷ No fear of me should alarm you,
    nor should my hand be heavy on you.

⁸ “But you have said in my hearing—
    I heard the very words—
⁹ ‘I am pure, I have done no wrong;
    I am clean and free from sin.
¹⁰ Yet God has found fault with me;
    he considers me his enemy.
¹¹ He fastens my feet in shackles;
    he keeps close watch on all my paths.’

¹² “But I tell you, in this you are not right,
    for God is greater than any mortal.
¹³ Why do you complain to him
    that he responds to no one’s words^[d]?
¹⁴ For God does speak—now one way, now another—
    though no one perceives it.
¹⁵ In a dream, in a vision of the night,
    when deep sleep falls on people
    as they slumber in their beds,
¹⁶ he may speak in their ears
    and terrify them with warnings,
¹⁷ to turn them from wrongdoing
    and keep them from pride,
¹⁸ to preserve them from the pit,
    their lives from perishing by the sword.^[e]

¹⁹ “Or someone may be chastened on a bed of pain
    with constant distress in their bones,
²⁰ so that their body finds food repulsive
    and their soul loathes the choicest meal.
²¹ Their flesh wastes away to nothing,
    and their bones, once hidden, now stick out.
²² They draw near to the pit,
    and their life to the messengers of death.^[f]
23 Yet if there is an angel at their side,
    a messenger, one out of a thousand,
    sent to tell them how to be upright,
²⁴ and he is gracious to that person and says to God,
    ‘Spare them from going down to the pit;
    I have found a ransom for them—
²⁵ let their flesh be renewed like a child’s;
    let them be restored as in the days of their youth’—
²⁶ then that person can pray to God and find favor with him,
    they will see God’s face and shout for joy;
    he will restore them to full well-being.
²⁷ And they will go to others and say,
    ‘I have sinned, I have perverted what is right,
    but I did not get what I deserved.
²⁸ God has delivered me from going down to the pit,
    and I shall live to enjoy the light of life.’

²⁹ “God does all these things to a person—
    twice, even three times—
³⁰ to turn them back from the pit,
    that the light of life may shine on them.

³¹ “Pay attention, Job, and listen to me;
    be silent, and I will speak.
³² If you have anything to say, answer me;
    speak up, for I want to vindicate you.
³³ But if not, then listen to me;
    be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.”

³ He will not let your foot slip—
    he who watches over you will not slumber;
⁴ indeed, he who watches over Israel
    will neither slumber nor sleep.

⁵ The Lord watches over you—
    the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
⁶ the sun will not harm you by day,
    nor the moon by night.

⁷ The Lord will keep you from all harm—
    he will watch over your life;
⁸ the Lord will watch over your coming and going
    both now and forevermore.