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Job 33 (CEV)

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¹ Job, listen to me! Pay close attention. ² Everything I will say ³ is true and sincere, ⁴ just as surely as the Spirit of God All-Powerful gave me the breath of life. ⁵ Now line up your arguments and prepare to face me. ⁶ We each were made from clay, and God has no favorites, ⁷ so don't be afraid of me or what I might do. ⁸ I have heard you argue ⁹ that you are innocent, guilty of nothing. ¹⁰ You claim that God has made you his enemy, ¹¹ that he has bound your feet and blocked your path. ¹² But, Job, you're wrong-- God is greater than any human. ¹³ So why do you challenge God to answer you? ¹⁴ God speaks in different ways, and we don't always recognize his voice. ¹⁵ Sometimes in the night, he uses terrifying dreams ¹⁶ to give us warnings. ¹⁷ God does this to make us turn from sin and pride ¹⁸ and to protect us from being swept away to the world of the dead. ¹⁹ Sometimes we are punished with a serious illness and aching joints. ²⁰ Merely the thought of our favorite food makes our stomachs sick, ²¹ and we become so skinny that our bones stick out. ²² We feel death and the grave taking us in their grip. ²³ One of a thousand angels then comes to our rescue by saying we are innocent. ²⁴ The angel shows kindness, commanding death to release us, because the price was paid. ²⁵ Our health is restored, we feel young again, ²⁶ and we ask God to accept us. Then we joyfully worship God, and we are rewarded because we are innocent. ²⁷ When that happens, we tell everyone, "I sinned and did wrong, but God forgave me ²⁸ and rescued me from death! Now I will see the light." ²⁹ God gives each of us chance after chance ³⁰ to be saved from death and brought into the light that gives life. ³¹ So, Job, pay attention and don't interrupt, ³² though I would gladly listen to anything you say that proves you are right. ³³ Otherwise, listen in silence to my wisdom.