Job 22:9-19

9 Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.
10 Therefore snares [are] around thee, and sudden fear troubleth thee;
11 Or darkness, [that] thou canst not see; and abundance of waters cover thee.
12 [Is] not God in the hight of heaven? and behold the hight of the stars, how high they are!
13 And thou sayest, How doth God know? can he judge through the dark cloud?
14 Thick clouds [are] a covering to him, that he seeth not; and he walketh in the circuit of heaven.
15 Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden?
16 Who were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflowed with a flood!
17 Who said to God, depart from us: and what can the Almighty do for them!
18 Yet he filled their houses with good [things]: but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
19 The righteous see [it], and are glad: and the innocent deride them.

Job 22:9-19 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.

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