Job 33:12-30

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[a] ?
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.[b]
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.[c]
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.

Job 33:12-30 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JOB 33

In this chapter Elihu addresses Job himself, and entreats his attention to what he had to say to him, and offers several things to induce him to it; and recommends himself as one that was according to his wish, in the stead of God, a man like himself, and of whom he had no reason to be afraid, Job 33:1-7; and then he brings a charge against him of things which he himself had heard, of words that had dropped from him in the course of his controversy with his friends; in which he too much and too strongly insisted on his own innocence and purity, and let fill very undue and unbecoming reflections on the dealings of God with him, Job 33:8-11; to which he gives an answer by observing the superior greatness of God to man, and his sovereignty over him, not being accountable to him for anything done by him; and therefore man should be silent and submissive to him, Job 33:12,13; and yet, though he is so great and so absolute, and uncontrollable, and is not obliged to give an account of his affairs to man, and the reasons of them; yet he condescends by various ways and means to instruct him in his mind and will, and even by these very things complained of; and therefore should not be treated as if unkind and unfriendly to men; sometimes he does it by dreams and visions, when he opens the ears of men, and seals instruction to them, and with this view, to restrain them from their evil purposes and doings, and to weaken their pride and humble them, and preserve them from ruin, Job 33:14-18; and sometimes by chastening and afflictive providences, which are described, Job 33:19-22; and which become teaching ones; through the interposition of a divine messenger, and upon the afflicted man's prayer to God, and humiliation before him, God is gracious and favourable to him, and delivers him; which is frequently the design and the use that he makes of chastening dispensations, Job 33:23-30; and the chapter is concluded with beseeching Job to mark and consider well what had been said unto him, and to answer it if he could or thought fit; if not, silently to attend to what he had further to say to him for his instruction, Job 33:31-33.

Cross References 46

  • 1. S Job 5:9; Psalms 8:4; Psalms 50:21; Ecclesiastes 7:20; Isaiah 55:8-9
  • 2. Job 40:2; Isaiah 45:9
  • 3. S Job 11:8
  • 4. Psalms 62:11
  • 5. ver 29
  • 6. Job 4:12
  • 7. S Genesis 20:3; Job 4:13; S Matthew 27:19
  • 8. Acts 16:9
  • 9. S Genesis 15:1; Daniel 2:19
  • 10. S Genesis 2:21
  • 11. Job 36:10,15
  • 12. S Job 6:4
  • 13. Psalms 88:15-16
  • 14. S Job 20:6
  • 15. ver 22,24,28,30; Psalms 28:1; Psalms 30:9; Psalms 69:15; Psalms 88:6; Psalms 103:4; Proverbs 1:12; Isaiah 14:15; Isaiah 38:17; John 2:6; Zechariah 9:11
  • 16. S Job 15:22; Matthew 26:52
  • 17. S Job 5:17
  • 18. S Genesis 17:1; S Deuteronomy 8:5; 2 Corinthians 12:7-10; James 1:3
  • 19. S Job 16:16; Psalms 6:2; Psalms 38:3; Isaiah 38:13; Job 30:17
  • 20. Psalms 102:4; Psalms 107:18
  • 21. S Job 3:24; S Job 6:6
  • 22. S Job 2:5
  • 23. S Job 16:8; Job 19:20
  • 24. S ver 18
  • 25. Job 38:17; Psalms 9:13; Psalms 88:3; Psalms 107:18; Psalms 116:3
  • 26. Galatians 3:19; Hebrews 8:6; Hebrews 9:15
  • 27. Job 36:9-10; Micah 6:8
  • 28. S ver 18; Isaiah 38:17
  • 29. S Job 6:22
  • 30. Psalms 103:5
  • 31. 2 Kings 5:14
  • 32. S Job 5:15; Proverbs 8:35; Proverbs 12:2; Proverbs 18:22; Luke 2:52; Job 34:28
  • 33. S Ezra 3:13; S Job 22:26
  • 34. Psalms 13:5; Psalms 50:15; Psalms 51:12; 1 John 1:9
  • 35. S Numbers 22:34; 2 Samuel 12:13
  • 36. Luke 15:21
  • 37. S Ezra 9:13; Psalms 22:27; Psalms 51:13; Romans 6:21; James 2:13
  • 38. S Exodus 15:13; Psalms 34:22; Psalms 107:20
  • 39. S ver 18; S Job 17:16
  • 40. S Job 22:28
  • 41. Psalms 139:16; Proverbs 16:9; Proverbs 20:24; Jeremiah 10:23; 1 Corinthians 12:6; Ephesians 1:11; Philippians 2:13
  • 42. ver 14
  • 43. James 5:19
  • 44. S ver 18
  • 45. Psalms 49:19; Psalms 56:13; Psalms 116:9; Isaiah 53:11
  • 46. Isaiah 60:1; Ephesians 5:14

Footnotes 3

  • [a]. Or "that he does not answer for any of his actions"
  • [b]. Or "from crossing the river"
  • [c]. Or "to the place of the dead"
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