³¹ you would plunge me into a slime pit^(A)
    so that even my clothes would detest me.^(B)

¹⁸ to preserve them from the pit,^(A)
    their lives from perishing by the sword.^[a](B)

²² They draw near to the pit,^(A)
    and their life to the messengers of death.^[a](B)
23 Yet if there is an angel at their side,
    a messenger,^(C) one out of a thousand,
    sent to tell them how to be upright,^(D)
24 and he is gracious to that person and says to God,
    ‘Spare them from going down to the pit;^(E)
    I have found a ransom for them^(F)—

²⁸ God has delivered^(A) me from going down to the pit,^(B)
    and I shall live to enjoy the light of life.’^(C)

²⁹ “God does all these things to a person^(D)—
    twice, even three times^(E)—
³⁰ to turn them back^(F) from the pit,^(G)
    that the light of life^(H) may shine on them.^(I)