Job 22:14-24

14 Thick clouds cover him so he cannot see us as he walks around high up in the sky.'

15 Are you going to stay on the old path where evil people walk?

16 They were carried away before their time was up, and their foundations were washed away by a flood.

17 They said to God, 'Leave us alone! The Almighty can do nothing to us.'

18 But it was God who filled their houses with good things. Their way of thinking is different from mine.

19 "Good people can watch and be glad; the innocent can laugh at them and say,

20 'Surely our enemies are destroyed, and fire burns up their wealth.'

21 "Obey God and be at peace with him; this is the way to happiness.

22 Accept teaching from his mouth, and keep his words in your heart.

23 If you return to the Almighty, you will be blessed again. So remove evil from your house.

24 Throw your gold nuggets into the dust and your fine gold among the rocks in the ravines.

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.