8  “Surely you have spoken in my ears,

and I have heard the sound of your words.

9  You say, ^v‘I am pure, without transgression;

I am clean, and there is no iniquity in me.

10  Behold, he finds occasions against me,

he ^wcounts me as his enemy,

11  ^xhe puts my feet in the stocks

and watches all my paths.’

12  “Behold, ^yin this you are not right. I will answer you,

for God is greater than man.

13  Why do you ^zcontend against him,

saying, ‘He will answer none of man’s¹ words’?²

14  For God speaks in one way,

and in two, though man does not perceive it.

15  ^aIn a dream, in a vision of the night,

when deep sleep falls on men,

while they slumber on their beds,

16  then he opens the ears of men

and terrifies³ them with warnings,

17  that he may turn man aside from his deed

and conceal pride from a man;

18  he keeps back his soul ^bfrom the pit,

his life from perishing by the sword.