Job 22:14-24

14 You think the thick clouds keep him from seeing, as he walks on the dome of the sky.
15 Are you determined to walk in the paths that evil people have always followed?
16 Even before their time had come, they were washed away by a flood.
17 These are the ones who rejected God and believed that he could do nothing to them.
18 And yet it was God who made them prosperous - I can't understand the thoughts of the wicked.
19 Good people are glad and the innocent laugh when they see the wicked punished.
20 All that the wicked own is destroyed, and fire burns up anything that is left.
21 Now, Job, make peace with God and stop treating him like an enemy; if you do, then he will bless you.
22 Accept the teaching he gives; keep his words in your heart.
23 Yes, you must humbly return to God and put an end to all the evil that is done in your house.
24 Throw away your gold; dump your finest gold in the dry stream bed.

Job 22:14-24 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 1

  • [a]. [One ancient translation] humbly; [Hebrew] be built up.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.