Job 22
Introduction
Job 22 is Eliphaz the Temanite's third and final speech, and it marks a decisive escalation in the friends' strategy. In his first speech (chapters 4–5), Eliphaz was comparatively gentle — he spoke of suffering as divine discipline and offered hope of restoration. In his second speech (chapter 15), his tone hardened into accusation, but still at a general level: Job must be wicked because wicked people speak like him. Now, in his third speech, Eliphaz abandons theological generality entirely and invents specific crimes. He names them as if reciting an indictment: extortion, stripping the naked, withholding water from the thirsty, depriving the hungry of bread, sending widows away empty, crushing the arms of orphans. These are not vague character flaws — they are the classic covenant violations condemned by Israel's prophets, the crimes for which kings and nations are judged.
The chapter divides into two sharply contrasted halves. The first half (vv. 2–20) is accusation: Eliphaz argues that since God gains nothing from human righteousness, God's motives for punishing Job must be Job's real sins — and then he names them. The second half (vv. 21–30) is invitation: a genuinely beautiful call to repentance and restoration. If Job will return to God, lay aside his gold, and take instruction from God's mouth, then the Almighty himself will be Job's treasure. The tragedy of the chapter is that the invitation is theologically sound but pastorally devastating — it is offered to a man who has committed none of the sins Eliphaz has just invented. God's verdict at the end of the book falls squarely here: "You have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has" (Job 42:7).
God Gains Nothing from Human Virtue (vv. 2–3)
2 "Can a man be of use to God? Can even a wise man benefit Him? 3 Does it delight the Almighty that you are righteous? Does He profit if your ways are blameless?
2 "Can a man be profitable to God? Even a wise man is profitable only to himself. 3 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are righteous? Is there any gain to him if your ways are blameless?
Notes
הַלְאֵל יִסְכָּן גָּבֶר ("Can a man be profitable to God?") — The verb sakan means "to be profitable, to be of use, to benefit." It is a rare verb in biblical Hebrew (appearing mainly in Job — Job 22:2, Job 22:21, Job 34:9, Job 35:3) and carries the idea of practical usefulness or financial benefit. Eliphaz's opening argument is a piece of wisdom theology: God is self-sufficient. He does not need anything from humans. Therefore his treatment of Job cannot be motivated by gratitude for Job's righteousness or displeasure at losing it. God doesn't benefit from Job being good.
כִּי יִסְכֹּן עָלֵימוֹ מַשְׂכִּיל ("Even a wise man is profitable only to himself") — The second line is the mirror image: a wise man's (maskil) wisdom benefits himself (aleimo), not God. This is Eliphaz's theological premise — the entire relationship between human virtue and divine response is horizontal (benefiting the human) not vertical (benefiting God). He will use this premise to set up his accusation: if God punishes you, it cannot be because your righteousness offended him, nor because he wants more virtue from you. It must be because of your actual sins.
הַחֵפֶץ לְשַׁדַּי כִּי תִצְדָּק ("Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are righteous?") — The word chephets means "delight, pleasure, desire, that in which one takes satisfaction." It is the word used in Isaiah 53:10 ("yet it was the LORD's will [chephets] to crush him"), in Psalm 1:2 ("his delight is in the law of the LORD"), and in Ecclesiastes 12:1 ("when the years come when you say, 'I find no pleasure in them'"). Eliphaz says: does God delight in your righteousness? The implied answer is no — God is above such dependence. There is an irony here that Eliphaz cannot see: God has in fact taken great pleasure in Job's righteousness (1:8, "Have you considered my servant Job?").
בֶּצַע ("gain/profit") — This word means "unjust gain, profit, cut" (it can also mean the cut of a slaughtered animal). It is often used negatively: batsa' betsa' means "to make dishonest gain" (Ezekiel 22:27, 1 Samuel 8:3). Using it here for what God might "gain" from Job's blamelessness is deliberately neutral-to-cynical: what profit-margin would God receive? Eliphaz reduces the relationship between God and human virtue to a ledger. The argument is philosophically coherent — and theologically dangerous. Elihu will later challenge it directly (Job 35:6–7).
The Indictment: Eliphaz Invents Job's Sins (vv. 4–9)
4 Is it for your reverence that He rebukes you and enters into judgment against you? 5 Is not your wickedness great? Are not your iniquities endless?
6 For you needlessly demanded security from your brothers and deprived the naked of their clothing. 7 You gave no water to the weary and withheld food from the famished, 8 while the land belonged to a mighty man, and a man of honor lived on it. 9 You sent widows away empty-handed, and the strength of the fatherless was crushed.
4 Is it for your piety that he rebukes you and enters into judgment with you? 5 Is not your wickedness great? Are not your iniquities without end?
6 For you have taken pledges from your brothers without cause and stripped the clothing from the naked. 7 You have given no water to the weary to drink, and from the hungry you have withheld bread, 8 while the man of power possessed the land and the man of rank dwelt in it. 9 You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the orphans have been crushed.
Notes
הֲמִיִּרְאָתְךָ יֹכִיחֶךָ ("Is it for your piety that he rebukes you?") — Eliphaz's rhetorical question turns the screw: God's rebukes cannot be prompted by Job's yir'ah ("fear, reverence, piety") — because God doesn't benefit from piety (vv. 2–3). Therefore, the rebukes must be for something else. The word yokhiach ("rebukes") is from yakach, the word for formal legal reproof or reasoned argument (Genesis 31:42, Isaiah 1:18, Job 13:3). Eliphaz uses quasi-legal language: God has entered into mishpat (judgment/litigation) with Job. But on what grounds? Eliphaz's logic is airtight given his premises — and those premises are catastrophically wrong.
הֲלֹא רָעָתְךָ רַבָּה ("Is not your wickedness great?") — The question is rhetorical, demanding the answer "yes." The word ra'ah means "wickedness, evil, harm" in the broadest sense — moral failure, harmful acts, or simply that which is wrong. Eliphaz asserts this as fact. Notice the progression: in chapter 4, he asked "Who that was innocent ever perished?" (implying Job must have sinned). In chapter 15, he said the wicked man lives in dread (implying Job is that man). Now, in chapter 22, he simply declares: your wickedness is great. He has crossed from inference to direct accusation.
כִּי תַחְבֹּל אַחֶיךָ חִנָּם ("For you have taken pledges from your brothers without cause") — The verb chaval means "to take a pledge, to hold as security for a debt." Mosaic law placed strict limits on this practice: you could not keep a poor man's cloak overnight (Exodus 22:26–27, Deuteronomy 24:10–13). Eliphaz accuses Job of taking pledges chinnam — "for nothing, without cause, gratuitously." The word chinnam is the same word God uses of Satan's attack on Job in 2:3 ("you incited me against him to destroy him without reason"). The irony is precise: Job is the one being afflicted without cause (chinnam), not the one who afflicted others that way.
בִּגְדֵי עֲרוּמִּים תַּפְשִׁיט ("you stripped the clothing from the naked") — Arum means "naked, bare, exposed." To strip clothing from someone already naked is a vivid picture of extreme cruelty — leaving them with nothing. This was a concrete covenant violation: Isaiah 58:7 lists "covering the naked" as a mark of true fasting; Ezekiel 18:7 describes the righteous man as one who "returns the pledge of a debtor, does not commit robbery, gives his bread to the hungry, and covers the naked with a garment." Job is accused of violating every one of these obligations.
וְאִישׁ זְרוֹעַ לוֹ הָאָרֶץ ("while the man of power possessed the land") — The word zeroah means "arm" and metaphorically "strength, power." The "man of the arm" is a powerful man — a landowner, someone with social and physical clout. Eliphaz is accusing Job of having used his powerful position to dispossess the vulnerable while the land went to the already-powerful. This is precisely the prophetic critique of oppressive aristocrats (Isaiah 5:8, Micah 2:2).
אַלְמָנוֹת שִׁלַּחְתָּ רֵיקָם ("You have sent widows away empty") — Three of the most protected classes in ancient Israelite law — the widow, the orphan, and the foreigner — are the objects of Eliphaz's invented charges. Sending widows away reqam ("empty-handed, without anything") is a direct violation of the spirit of covenant law (cf. Deuteronomy 24:17, "Do not deprive the foreigner or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge"). The crushing of orphans' zeroah ("arms/strength") is a counterpoint to the previous verse: the man of the arm exploits; the orphan's arms are broken.
The devastating irony of the accusation: Everything Eliphaz charges Job with doing to others, Job has actually done the opposite. Job himself declares in chapter 29 and 31 that he did deliver the poor, clothe the naked, receive the widow and orphan. Crucially, God has already called Job "blameless and upright" (1:1, 1:8, 2:3). Eliphaz's charges are fabricated from his own theological logic — backward-engineered from Job's suffering. He reasons: Job must be suffering → suffering is caused by sin → these are the sins that cause suffering → therefore these are Job's sins. The syllogism is internally consistent and catastrophically false.
Therefore These Judgments Have Come Upon You (vv. 10–11)
10 Therefore snares surround you, and sudden peril terrifies you; 11 it is so dark you cannot see, and a flood of water covers you.
10 Therefore snares are all around you, and sudden dread terrifies you; 11 or a darkness so thick you cannot see, and a flood of waters covers you.
Notes
עַל כֵּן ("therefore") — This connecting word makes explicit the logical chain: because you have done these things (vv. 6–9), therefore these judgments have come upon you (vv. 10–11). The traps, terrors, darkness, and floods that Job is experiencing are not mysterious — they are the direct consequences of identified sin. For Eliphaz, the suffering is now fully explained. The word pachim ("snares, traps") echoes Bildad's imagery in chapter 18, where the wicked man is caught in net, mesh, trap, and noose. Eliphaz is saying: Job is experiencing exactly what the wicked experience, because Job has done exactly what the wicked do.
פַּחַד פִּתְאֹם ("sudden dread") — The terror that strikes without warning. The word pachad ("dread, sudden fear") appears at the beginning of the book in Eliphaz's night vision (4:14, "dread came upon me, and trembling") — the same fear he claimed to receive from the spirit. Now he says Job is experiencing that dread as divine punishment. The phrase pit'om ("suddenly, instantaneously") underscores that the disasters struck without preparation — exactly as happened in chapters 1–2.
God Sees from on High (vv. 12–14)
12 Is not God as high as the heavens? Look at the highest stars, how lofty they are! 13 Yet you say: 'What does God know? Does He judge through thick darkness? 14 Thick clouds veil Him so He does not see us as He traverses the vault of heaven.'
12 Is not God in the height of the heavens? Look at the top of the stars — how high they are! 13 Yet you say, "What does God know? Can he judge through thick darkness? 14 Clouds veil him so he cannot see us as he walks the circle of heaven."
Notes
גֹּבַהּ שָׁמָיִם ("the height of the heavens") — The word govah means "height, elevation." Eliphaz is pointing to God's transcendence: He dwells at the apex of creation, higher even than the topmost stars. The ancient Near Eastern cosmos pictured the stars as exalted beings (cf. Job 38:7, "the morning stars sang together"), so "higher than the stars" is superlatively high. This argument from cosmic height is meant to refute what Eliphaz claims Job is saying in vv. 13–14.
עֲרָפֶל ("thick darkness/cloud-mass") — This is the word for the dense, dark thundercloud that is associated with God's presence and judgment: the cloud on Sinai (Exodus 20:21, "Moses approached the thick darkness where God was"), the cloud in the temple (1 Kings 8:12), and elsewhere in Job (38:9). Eliphaz is quoting a theology he attributes to Job: "God can't see through the arafel." But this is a strawman. Job has never said God can't see him — quite the opposite: Job fears that God sees him too clearly (Job 7:17–20, Job 10:4–7).
חוּג שָׁמַיִם ("the circle/vault of heaven") — The word chug appears in Proverbs 8:27 ("when He set a circle on the face of the deep") and Isaiah 40:22 ("He sits above the circle of the earth"). It refers to the dome or horizon of the sky — the boundary of the visible heavens. Eliphaz says God walks the perimeter of heaven — implying He is far removed from human affairs. Ironically, this is closer to Job's actual complaint than Eliphaz realizes: Job does feel that God has moved away, is inaccessible (cf. Job 23:3, "If only I knew where to find him").
Do Not Walk the Ancient Path of the Wicked (vv. 15–20)
15 Will you stay on the ancient path that wicked men have trod? 16 They were snatched away before their time, and their foundations were swept away by a flood. 17 They said to God, 'Depart from us. What can the Almighty do to us?' 18 But it was He who filled their houses with good things; so I stay far from the counsel of the wicked.
19 The righteous see it and are glad; the innocent mock them: 20 'Surely our foes are destroyed, and fire has consumed their excess.'
15 Will you keep to the ancient path that men of wickedness have walked, 16 who were seized before their time, their foundation washed away by a flood? 17 They said to God, "Turn away from us! And what can the Almighty do to us?" 18 Yet it was he who filled their houses with good things — the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
19 The righteous see it and rejoice; the innocent mock them, saying: 20 "Surely those who rise against us are cut off, and what they left over, fire has devoured."
Notes
אֹרַח עוֹלָם ("the ancient path") — The word orach means "path, way, track" — the same word used in Proverbs 2:19 ("none who go to her return or regain the paths of life") and Psalm 27:11 ("teach me your way, O LORD; lead me on a level path"). Olam means "ancient, eternal, of long ago." The "ancient path" is the well-worn road of the wicked — not a new deviation but a path that generations of sinners have traveled. Eliphaz is warning Job: are you going to repeat the pattern?
קֻמְּטוּ וְלֹא עֵת ("who were seized before their time") — The verb qamat means "to be seized, to be grasped, to be contracted" — a rare word suggesting sudden constriction or grabbing. "Before their time" (velo et, "and not at the right time") implies premature death as divine punishment. Eliphaz invokes the pre-flood generation or those destroyed by earlier divine judgments as cautionary examples. Their yesod ("foundation") was swept away by a nahar ("river, flood") — language evoking Noah's flood.
Verse 18 is remarkable: "Yet it was he who filled their houses with good things." This is nearly verbatim from Job's own statement in 21:16 — where Job said the wicked man's prosperity is not in his own hands, and distanced himself from the counsel of the wicked with the same words. Eliphaz is quoting Job back at him — or independently stating what Job already said. The parenthetical aside "the counsel of the wicked is far from me" echoes Job 21:16 exactly. Either Eliphaz quotes Job to redirect his argument, or both are drawing from common wisdom idiom.
יִתְרָם ("their excess/surplus/remainder") — The word yeter means "remainder, excess, abundance." The fire consumed what was left over — not just their houses but the surplus they had accumulated. This is a standard image of divine judgment consuming abundance (cf. Amos 1:4, Isaiah 10:17).
Return to God and Be Restored (vv. 21–30)
21 Reconcile now and be at peace with Him; thereby good will come to you. 22 Receive instruction from His mouth, and lay up His words in your heart. 23 If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored. If you remove injustice from your tents 24 and consign your gold to the dust and the gold of Ophir to the stones of the ravines, 25 then the Almighty will be your gold and the finest silver for you.
26 Surely then you will delight in the Almighty and lift up your face to God. 27 You will pray to Him, and He will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows. 28 Your decisions will be carried out, and light will shine on your ways.
29 When men are brought low and you say, 'Lift them up!' then He will save the lowly. 30 He will deliver even one who is not innocent, rescuing him through the cleanness of your hands."
21 Acquaint yourself with him now, and be at peace; by them good will come to you. 22 Receive instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart. 23 If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up; if you remove injustice far from your tents, 24 and set your gold in the dust and the gold of Ophir among the stones of the ravine, 25 then the Almighty will be your gold and your precious silver.
26 For then you will delight in the Almighty and lift up your face to God. 27 You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows. 28 You will decide on a matter and it will stand for you, and light will shine on your paths.
29 When they humble others, you will say, "Rise up!" and he will save the downcast of eyes. 30 He will deliver even the one who is not innocent — and he will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands."
Notes
הַסְכֶּן נָא עִמּוֹ ("Acquaint yourself with him now, and be at peace") — The verb sakan returns from verse 2 (where it asked if a man could be profitable to God). Here it takes a reflexive or middle sense: acquaint yourself, make yourself familiar, be at ease with. The irony of the same root is pointed: in v. 2, Eliphaz argued that God gains nothing from human virtue; here he uses the same word to urge Job to enter into relationship with God. It is not about what God gains — it is about what Job will gain by knowing God intimately. The particle na is a gentle imperative, an entreaty: please, now, do this.
תּוֹרָה ("instruction") — The word means "teaching, direction, law" — from yarah, "to instruct, to point the way." It is the same word for the Mosaic law (the Torah), but here used more generally for divine instruction or wisdom. Eliphaz urges Job to receive torah from God's own mouth — to stop arguing with God and start listening. The image of laying up God's words in your heart (lev) echoes Deuteronomy 6:6 ("these commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts") and Proverbs 3:1 ("my son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart").
תִּבָּנֶה ("you will be built up") — From banah, "to build." If Job returns (tashuv) to the Almighty, he will be built up — constructed, established, restored. The word choice is significant: it implies that Job's life is a ruined structure that can be rebuilt. The same root gives us the metaphor of a woman built into a family (Genesis 16:2, "perhaps I can be built through her"). Restoration is architectural.
בָּצֶר ("gold ore/raw gold") — This refers to unrefined gold ore, or possibly high-quality gold from the earth. Together with אוֹפִיר — the famous ancient source of the finest gold (1 Kings 9:28, Psalm 45:9, Isaiah 13:12) — the verse speaks of casting even the most precious metals aside. To "set your gold in the dust" and put Ophir gold "among the river stones" is to treat your greatest earthly wealth as worthless rubble. This is not asceticism for its own sake but a radical reorientation of value.
וְהָיָה שַׁדַּי בְּצָרֶיךָ ("then the Almighty will be your gold") — The same word batser (gold ore) from v. 24 is now echoed in betsereykhah ("your treasure, your gold"). Eliphaz constructs a deliberate wordplay: put away your batser (gold), and Shaddai will become your batser (treasure). God himself replaces material wealth. This is one of the most beautiful statements in the book — genuine wisdom literature at its best — even though it is being deployed against an innocent man.
תִּתְעַנָּג עַל שַׁדַּי ("you will delight in the Almighty") — The verb anag means "to be delicate, to delight, to take luxury in" — it is the word behind oneg (delight, as in oneg Shabbat, the joy of the Sabbath) and likely shares a root with Eden. To anag in God is to find in him the deepest pleasure, the luxurious rest that wealthy people find in their possessions. Compare Isaiah 58:14 ("then you will find your joy in the LORD") and Psalm 37:4 ("delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart"). The vision here is genuinely beautiful: a life in which God is the deepest source of satisfaction, in which the face is lifted freely to God (Job 11:15), prayer is answered, vows are kept, and light shines on every path.
וְשַׁח עֵינַיִם יוֹשִׁיעַ ("he will save the downcast of eyes") — Verse 29 is difficult. The BSB renders it "When men are brought low and you say, 'Lift them up!', then He will save the lowly." The phrase shach einayim ("downcast of eyes, the lowly-eyed") refers to those humbled and cast down, whose eyes are turned toward the ground. The restored Job will intercede for others — and God will hear. There is a forward echo here: in Job 42:8–9, God tells Eliphaz to have Job pray for him, and Job's prayer is heard. The intercession Eliphaz describes as Job's future will actually happen — but not through the repentance Eliphaz has in mind.
יְמַלֵּט אִי נָקִי ("He will deliver even the one who is not innocent") — The final verse is the most puzzling in the speech. I (or iy) is an unusual particle, possibly meaning "not" or "even." The BSB reads "even one who is not innocent" — suggesting that through Job's restored standing, even the guilty can be rescued. Others read it as "he will deliver the innocent" (reading iy as emphatic "surely"). Either way, the speech ends with a vision of restored relationship so powerful that it extends mercy even to others. Eliphaz, for all his false accusations, is pointing toward something real: the power of a righteous intercessor. The book will vindicate this — but it will be Job himself who functions as that intercessor (Job 42:8), not the repentant sinner Eliphaz imagined.
Interpretations
Can truth be spoken on false premises? Eliphaz's invitation (vv. 21–30) is theologically beautiful — "the Almighty will be your gold," "you will delight in the Almighty," "light will shine on your ways" — and yet it rests on fabricated charges (vv. 5–9) and a flawed theological framework (suffering always implies guilt). This raises a pastoral and hermeneutical question that divides interpreters: can Eliphaz's words here be cited as authoritative Scripture, or are they part of the "wrong speech" God condemns in Job 42:7? Reformed interpreters (Calvin, Andersen) generally argue that Eliphaz's theology of restoration is sound — his error lies in applying it to an innocent man. The words themselves are true promises, misapplied. Others (Clines, Habel) argue that the entire framework is contaminated: because Eliphaz's premise (Job has sinned) is false, his conclusion (repent and be restored) is pastorally violent, however beautiful its language. This debate has direct implications for how wisdom literature is preached: should suffering people be told to "return to God and be restored," or does Job's story expose the cruelty of that advice when addressed to the innocent?
Intercessory prayer and the righteous mediator. Verse 30 envisions a restored Job interceding for others — "he will deliver even the one who is not innocent through the cleanness of your hands." Catholic theology has drawn on this passage (and its fulfillment in Job 42:8) to support the doctrine of the intercession of the saints: a righteous person's prayers carry efficacy for others, including the guilty. Protestant theology affirms intercessory prayer but locates its ultimate efficacy in Christ alone as mediator (1 Timothy 2:5). The irony of the passage is that Eliphaz imagines Job must first repent before becoming an intercessor, but in the book's conclusion, Job intercedes for the friends without having repented of the sins Eliphaz invented — his intercession rests on the very innocence the friends denied.
The prosperity-repentance nexus. Eliphaz's conditional logic — "if you return to the Almighty, you will be restored... good will come to you... He will hear you" — represents the strict retribution theology that the book of Job is designed to challenge. Prosperity theology and "health and wealth" movements have used passages like these to argue that faithfulness guarantees material blessing. The book's own verdict complicates this: Job is restored (Job 42:10-17), which partially vindicates Eliphaz's framework — but the restoration comes after God rebukes Eliphaz (Job 42:7) and explicitly not through the mechanism Eliphaz described (repentance from specific sins). The relationship between faithfulness and flourishing remains a tension throughout Scripture (Psalm 73, Ecclesiastes 8:14, Hebrews 11:35-38).