Job 33:23

If there is an angel beside him, one mediator ¹  out of a thousand, to tell a person what constitutes his uprightness; ² 

Jud 2:1; 2Ch 36:15,16; Ne 9:33; Job 9:3; Job 11:6; Job 34:10,12; Job 34:32; Job 35:14; Job 36:3,8-13; Job 37:23; Ps 94:12; Ps 119:75; Ec 7:28; Isa 61:1-3; La 3:22,23,32,39-41; Eze 18:25-28; Da 9:14; Hag 1:13; Mal 2:7; Mal 3:1; Ac 8:30; Ro 11:13; 1Co 11:30-32; 2Co 5:20; Heb 12:5-12

¹ sn The verse is describing the way God can preserve someone from dying by sending a messenger (translated here as “angel”), who could be human or angelic. This messenger will interpret/mediate God’s will. By “one … out of a thousand” Elihu could have meant either that one of the thousands of messengers at God’s disposal might be sent or that the messenger would be unique (see Eccl 7:28; and cp. Job 9:3).

² tn This is a smoother reading. The MT has “to tell to a man his uprightness,” to reveal what is right for him. The LXX translated this word “duty”; the choice is adopted by some commentaries. However, that is too far from the text, which indicates that the angel/messenger is to call the person to uprightness.