9. ‘I am clear, without transgression; I am innocent, and I have no crookedness.
10. See, He finds occasions against me, He counts me as His enemy;
11. He puts my feet in the stocks, He watches all my paths.’
12. See, in this you have not been righteous. Let me answer you: Eloah is greater than man!
13. Why have you complained against Him? Because He does not answer all His matters?
14. For Ěl does speak once, or twice – though one does not notice it –
15. in a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls upon men, while slumbering on a bed,
16. then He opens the ears of men, and seals their instruction,
17. to turn man from his deed, and conceal pride from man.
18. He keeps back his being from the Pit, and his life from passing away by the sword.
19. And he is reproved with pain on his bed, and with unceasing distress in his bones,
20. so that his life loathes bread, and his being desirable food.
21. His flesh wastes away, and his bones which were not seen stick out.
22. And his being draws near the Pit, and his life to the destroyers.
23. If there is a messenger for him, a mediator, one among a thousand, to show man His straightness,
24. then He shows favour to him, and says, ‘Release him from going down to the Pit, I have found an atonement.
25. ‘Let his flesh become fresher than a child’s, let him return to the days of his youth.’
26. He prays to Eloah, and He accepts him. And he sees His face with joy, and He restores to man his righteousness.
27. He sings to men and says, ‘I have sinned, and I have perverted what was right, and it did not profit me.’
28. He has redeemed my being from going down to the Pit, and my life sees the light.
29. See, Ěl does all these – twice, three times with a man,