Job 22:21-30

21 ¹“Agree with God, and ²be at peace; thereby good will come to you.

22 Receive instruction from ³his mouth, and ⁴lay up his words in your heart.

23 If you ⁵return to the Almighty you will be ⁶built up; if you ⁷remove injustice far from your tents,

24 if you lay gold in ⁸the dust, and gold of ⁹Ophir among the stones of the torrent-bed,

25 then the Almighty will be your gold and your precious silver.

26 For then you ¹⁰will delight yourself in the Almighty and ¹¹lift up your face to God.

27 You will ¹²make your prayer to him, and he will hear you, and you will ¹³pay your vows.

28 You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you, and ¹⁴light will shine on your ways.

29 For when they are humbled you say, ‘It is because of pride’; ^[a] but he saves ¹⁵the lowly.

30 He ¹⁶delivers even the one who is not innocent, who will be delivered through ¹⁷the cleanness of your hands. ”

Job 22:21-30 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.

Cross References

• 1. 22:21 See Ps. 119:45
• 2. 22:21 [Prov. 3:2]
• 3. 22:22 Prov. 2:6; [Mal. 2:7]
• 4. 22:22 Ps. 119:11
• 5. 22:23 [ch. 8:5, 6; 11:13, 14; Mal. 3:7]
• 6. 22:23 Jer. 24:6; 33:7
• 7. 22:23 ch. 11:14
• 8. 22:24 ch. 20:11; 21:26
• 9. 22:24 See 1 Kgs. 9:28
• 10. 22:26 ch. 27:10; Ps. 37:4; Isa. 58:14
• 11. 22:26 See ch. 11:15
• 12. 22:27 ch. 33:26; Ps. 50:14, 15; Isa. 58:9
• 13. 22:27 Ps. 50:14
• 14. 22:28 Prov. 4:18
• 15. 22:29 Ps. 138:6; Prov. 3:34; 29:23; Matt. 23:12; Luke 1:52; James 4:6; 1 Pet. 5:5
• 16. 22:30 [Gen. 18:26]
• 17. 22:30 ch. 17:9; Ps. 18:20, 24; 24:4; 26:6; [ch. 9:30]

Footnotes

• [a] 22:29 Or 'you say, ‘It is exaltation’'