BOOK 18 OF 66 · WISDOM & POETRY · KING JAMES BIBLE

Job 22

Job book home•Chapter 22 of 42•30 verses

Chapter overviewAt a glance + deeper study

REVIEWED OVERVIEW

Job 22 Overview

Eliphaz begins his third speech by arguing that human righteousness does not profit God and then directly accuses Job of greed, cruelty, withholding necessities, mistreating widows, and oppressing orphans. None of these charges has been established. He urges Job to return to God and promises renewed prosperity.

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Before you read Job 22

Coming from

Job had dismantled the friends’ claim that earthly prosperity and suffering map neatly onto righteousness and wickedness.

In this chapter

Unable to answer Job’s evidence, Eliphaz escalates from inference to specific accusations he cannot prove.

Leads into

Chapter 23 records Job’s longing to find God, present his case, and understand the path God has appointed.

Key understandingExplore deeper

This chapter marks a major deterioration in the debate. Eliphaz’s allegations sound concrete, but the narrator gave no basis for them, and Job 31 will explicitly deny exactly these kinds of abuses. Specificity does not equal evidence.

Major truths in this chapterExplore deeper

Truth 1

Religious certainty can become slander when a person invents sins to preserve a preferred theory.

Truth 2

God does not need human righteousness for His own enrichment, but human righteousness still matters morally and relationally.

Truth 3

Calls to repentance are righteous only when they address actual sin rather than fabricated guilt.

Connections to the rest of ScriptureExplore deeper

Connection 1

Deuteronomy 19:15 requires adequate witness before establishing a charge.

Connection 2

Proverbs 18:13 warns against answering a matter before hearing it.

Connection 3

Job 31 later addresses care for the poor, widow, orphan, and servant, directly contradicting Eliphaz’s accusations.

What is clear, and where care is neededExplore deeper

Keep this clear 1

Do not treat Eliphaz’s detailed charges as historical facts about Job.

Keep this clear 2

His invitation to return to God does not prove Job had departed from God in the way Eliphaz claims.

Keep this clear 3

Promises of prosperity after repentance should not be turned into a universal formula for financial blessing.

Read Job 22 watching for…

The shift from general suspicion to explicit accusation.

The kinds of social sins Eliphaz alleges.

Whether he provides evidence for any charge.

His prosperity promises after repentance.

How his speech tries to preserve the friends’ theory after Job’s chapter 21 challenge.

Chapter outline4 sections

1-4Eliphaz says man’s righteousness does not add anything to God 5-11Eliphaz directly accuses Job of great wickedness and mistreating the needy 12-20Eliphaz warns that God sees from heaven and recalls the old path of wicked men 21-30Eliphaz urges Job to return to the Almighty and describes the good he expects to follow

Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself?

Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that thou art righteous? or is it gain to him, that thou makest thy ways perfect?

Will he reprove thee for fear of thee? will he enter with thee into judgment?

Is not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities infinite?

For thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought, and stripped the naked of their clothing.

Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry.

But as for the mighty man, he had the earth; and the honourable man dwelt in it.

Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.

Therefore snares are round about thee, and sudden fear troubleth thee;

Or darkness, that thou canst not see; and abundance of waters cover thee.

Is not God in the height of heaven? and behold the height of the stars, how high they are!

And thou sayest, How doth God know? can he judge through the dark cloud?

Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not; and he walketh in the circuit of heaven.

Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden?

Which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood:

Which said unto God, Depart from us: and what can the Almighty do for them?

Yet he filled their houses with good things: but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.

The righteous see it, and are glad: and the innocent laugh them to scorn.

Whereas our substance is not cut down, but the remnant of them the fire consumeth.

Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.

Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart.

If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles.

Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust, and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks.

Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defence, and thou shalt have plenty of silver.

For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto God.

Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he shall hear thee, and thou shalt pay thy vows.

Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways.

When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up; and he shall save the humble person.

He shall deliver the island of the innocent: and it is delivered by the pureness of thine hands.

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Job 22:3

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