Job 22:1-10

Eliphaz Speaks

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
2 Can a man be of [any] use to God? Can even a wise man be of use to Him?
3 Does it delight the Almighty if you are righteous? Does He profit if you perfect your behavior?[a]
4 Does He correct you and take you to court because of your piety?[b]
5 Isn't your wickedness abundant and aren't your iniquities endless?
6 For you took collateral from your brothers without cause, stripping off their clothes and leaving them naked.[c]
7 You gave no water to the thirsty and withheld food from the famished,[d]
8 while the land belonged to a powerful man and an influential man lived on it.
9 You sent widows away empty-handed, and the strength of the fatherless was[e] crushed.[f]
10 Therefore snares surround you, and sudden dread terrifies you,[g]

Job 22:1-10 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JOB 22

This chapter contains the third and last reply of Eliphaz to Job, in which he charges him with having too high an opinion of himself, of his holiness and righteousness, as if God was profited by it, and laid thereby under obligation to him, whereas he was not, Job 22:1-3; and as if he reproved and chastised him, because of his fear of him, whereas it was because of his sins, Job 22:4,5; an enumeration of which he gives, as of injustice, oppression, cruelty to the poor, and even of atheism and infidelity, for which snares and fears were around him, and various calamities, Job 22:6-14; and compares his way and course of life to that of the men of the old world, and the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, and suggests that his end would be like theirs, unless he repented, Job 22:15-20; and then concludes with an exhortation to him to return to God by repentance, and to reform, when he should see happy times again, and enjoy much outward and inward prosperity, and be an instrument of doing much good to many, Job 22:21-30.

Footnotes 7

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