¹² “But I tell you, in this you are not right,
    for God is greater than any mortal.^(A)
13 Why do you complain to him^(B)
    that he responds to no one’s words^[a]?^(C)
14 For God does speak^(D)—now one way, now another^(E)—
    though no one perceives it.^(F)
15 In a dream,^(G) in a vision^(H) of the night,^(I)
    when deep sleep^(J) falls on people
    as they slumber in their beds,
¹⁶ he may speak^(K) in their ears
    and terrify them^(L) with warnings,^(M)
17 to turn them from wrongdoing
    and keep them from pride,^(N)
18 to preserve them from the pit,^(O)
    their lives from perishing by the sword.^[b](P)

¹⁹ “Or someone may be chastened^(Q) on a bed of pain^(R)
    with constant distress in their bones,^(S)
20 so that their body finds food^(T) repulsive
    and their soul loathes the choicest meal.^(U)
21 Their flesh wastes away to nothing,
    and their bones,^(V) once hidden, now stick out.^(W)
22 They draw near to the pit,^(X)
    and their life to the messengers of death.^[c](Y)