Job 33:16–30

¹⁶He opens their ears

and terrifies them with warnings

¹⁷to turn a man from wrongdoing

and keep him from pride,

¹⁸to preserve his soul from the Pit

and his life from perishing by the sword.

¹⁹A man is also chastened on his bed

with pain and constant distress in his bones,

²⁰so that he detests his bread,

and his soul loathes his favorite food.

²¹His flesh wastes away from sight,

and his hidden bones protrude.

²²He draws near to the Pit,

and his life to the messengers of death.

²³Yet if there is a messenger on his side,

one mediator in a thousand,

to tell a man what is right for him,

²⁴to be gracious to him and say,

‘Spare him from going down to the Pit;

I have found his ransom,’

²⁵then his flesh is refreshed like a child’s;

he returns to the days of his youth.

²⁶He prays to God and finds favor;

he sees God’s face and shouts for joy,

and God restores His righteousness

to that man.

²⁷Then he sings before^b men

with these words:

‘I have sinned and perverted what was right;

yet I did not get what I deserved.

²⁸He redeemed my soul from going down to the Pit,

and I will live to see the light.’

²⁹Behold, all these things God does to a man,

two or even three times,

³⁰to bring back his soul from the Pit,

that he may be enlightened with the light of life.