1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered, 2 "Can a man be profitable to God? Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself. 3 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that you are righteous? Or does it benefit him, that you make your ways perfect? 4 Is it for your piety that he reproves you, that he enters with you into judgment? 5 Isn't your wickedness great? Neither is there any end to your iniquities. 6 For you have taken pledges from your brother for nothing, and stripped the naked of their clothing. 7 You haven't given water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry. 8 But as for the mighty man, he had the earth. The honorable man, he lived in it. 9 You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken. 10 Therefore snares are around you. Sudden fear troubles you, 11 or darkness, so that you can not see, and floods of waters cover you. 12 "Isn't God in the heights of heaven? See the height of the stars, how high they are! 13 You say, 'What does God know? Can he judge through the thick darkness? 14 Thick clouds are a covering to him, so that he doesn't see. He walks on the vault of the sky.' 15 Will you keep the old way, which wicked men have trodden, 16 who were snatched away before their time, whose foundation was poured out as a stream, 17 who said to God, 'Depart from us;' and, 'What can the Almighty do for us?' 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. The innocent ridicule them, 20 saying, 'Surely those who rose up against us are cut off. The fire has consumed the remnant of them.' 21 "Acquaint yourself with him, now, and be at peace. Thereby good shall come to you. 22 Please receive instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart. 23 If you return to the Almighty, you shall be built up, if you put away unrighteousness far from your tents. 24 Lay your treasure in the dust, the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks. 25 The Almighty will be your treasure, and precious silver to you. 26 For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty, and shall lift up your face to God. 27 You shall make your prayer to him, and he will hear you. You shall pay your vows. 28 You shall also decree a thing, and it shall be established to you. Light shall shine on your ways. 29 When they cast down, you shall say, 'be lifted up.' He will save the humble person. 30 He will even deliver him who is not innocent. Yes, he shall be delivered through the cleanness of your hands."
Eliphaz reproves Job for his attempts to clear his character and establish his innocence, Job 22:1-4. Charges him with innumerable transgressions; with oppressions towards his brethren, cruelty to the poor, hard-heartedness to the needy, and uncharitableness towards the widow and the orphan; and says it is on these accounts that snares and desolations are come upon him, Job 22:5-11. Speaks of the majesty and justice of God: how he cut off the ante-diluvians, the inhabitants of Sodom and the cities of the plain, Job 22:12-20. Exhorts him to repent and acknowledge his sins, and promises him great riches and prosperity, Job 22:21-30.
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; and as if he reproved and chastised him, because of his fear of him, whereas it was because of his sins, Job 22:4; 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; 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; 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.
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