New International Reader s Version - NIrV - 1996
Job 22
1
Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied,
3
Job, what pleasure would it give the Mighty One if you were right? What would he get if you were completely honest?
4
"You say you have respect for him. Is that why he corrects you? Is that why he brings charges against you?
Reference
Judgment
Job 14:3
Psalm 143:2
Job 34:23
Job 9:19
Job 19:29
Parallel theme
Revelation 3:19
Psalm 76:6
Psalm 39:11
Psalm 80:16
Job 7:12
5
Haven't you done many evil things? Don't you sin again and again?
Reference
Evil
Psalm 40:12
6
You took clothes away from your relatives just because they owed you some money. You left them naked for no reason at all.
Reference
7
You didn't give any water to people who were tired. You held food back from those who were hungry.
Reference
8
You did it even though you were honored and powerful. You owned land and lived on it.
Reference
Parallel theme
Isaiah 9:15
9
But you sent widows away without anything. You mistreated children whose fathers had died.
Reference
13
But you still say, 'What does God know? Can he see through the darkest clouds to judge us?
Reference
Darkness
Ezekiel 8:12
Isaiah 29:15
Parallel theme
Psalm 59:7
Ezekiel 9:9
Psalm 64:5
References God
Psalm 10:11
Psalm 73:11
14
He goes around in the highest heavens. Thick clouds keep him from seeing us.'
Reference
Parallel theme
Psalm 97:2
15
Will you stay on the old path that sinful people have walked on?
16
They were carried off even before they died. Their foundations were washed away by a flood.
Reference
17
They said to God, 'Leave us alone! What can you do to us, you Mighty One?'
Reference
Parallel theme
Psalm 4:6
Isaiah 30:11
Job 21:10
Matthew 8:34
References God
Romans 1:28
Matthew 8:29
Malachi 3:14
18
But he was the one who filled their houses with good things. So I don't pay any attention to the advice they give.
Reference
19
"Those who do what is right are joyful when they see sinners destroyed. Those who haven't done anything wrong make fun of them.
Reference
21
"Job, obey God and be at peace with him. Then he will help you succeed.
Reference
Good
Psalm 34:10
Parallel theme
1 Chronicles 28:9
2 Corinthians 5:20
Matthew 5:25
John 17:3
2 Corinthians 4:6
Peace
Isaiah 27:5
Philippians 4:7
Acts 10:36
22
Do what he teaches you to do. Keep his words in your heart.
Reference
Parallel theme
Proverbs 4:21
Matthew 12:35
Matthew 13:52
Luke 2:19
Word
Psalm 119:11
Job 23:12
Jeremiah 15:16
Proverbs 4:4
23
If you return to the Mighty One, you will have what you had before. But first you must remove everything that is evil far from your tent.
Reference
24
You must throw your gold nuggets away. You must toss your gold from Ophir into a valley.
Reference
26
You will find delight in the Mighty One. You will honor God and trust in him.
Reference
Song of Solomon 2:3
Light
Isaiah 58:14
Psalm 37:4
Job 27:10
Romans 7:22
Parallel theme
Job 11:15
Psalm 86:4
Psalm 143:8
27
You will pray to him, and he will hear you. You will keep the promises you made to him.
Reference
Parallel theme
Isaiah 58:9
Psalm 116:1
Psalm 91:15
Job 34:28
Ecclesiastes 5:4
Psalm 116:14
Psalm 56:12
Jonah 2:9
Prayer
Job 33:26
28
What you decide to do will be done. Light will shine on the path you take.
Reference
Light
Proverbs 4:18
John 8:12
Psalm 112:4
Job 29:3
Parallel theme
Matthew 21:22
Psalm 90:17
Psalm 20:4
Isaiah 30:21
Malachi 4:2
Lamentations 3:37
30
He'll even save those who are guilty. He'll save them because your hands are clean."
Reference
Parallel theme
Psalm 18:20
Summary of Job 22
Job Chapter 22 marks a significant change in Eliphaz's approach. Earlier, he spoke more generally about suffering and divine justice, but here he directly accuses Job of specific crimes. He claims that Job must have mistreated the poor, taken advantage of vulnerable people, withheld food and water, abused financial power, and failed to protect widows and orphans.
The accusations are striking because the reader knows from the beginning of the book that Job was described as a righteous man. Eliphaz, however, does not have access to that information. He is trying to explain Job's suffering using the only framework he trusts: serious suffering must be the result of serious wrongdoing.
Eliphaz begins by emphasizing God's greatness. He argues that God does not need human righteousness and does not depend on human beings for anything. From this perspective, Eliphaz believes Job has no reason to question God's judgment.
He then makes his accusation explicit: Job's wickedness must be great.
Rather than simply saying that Job has sinned, Eliphaz invents specific examples of wrongdoing. He accuses Job of taking people's clothing as security, refusing water to the thirsty, withholding food from the hungry, favoring powerful landowners, and neglecting widows and orphans.
These accusations are important because they focus on exactly the kinds of social injustices that ancient wisdom traditions strongly condemned. The vulnerable—especially widows, orphans, the poor, and debtors—were considered people who required protection.
Eliphaz's argument is therefore not morally empty. The actions he describes would indeed have been serious injustices.
The problem is that he has no evidence that Job actually committed them.
He is reasoning backward from Job's suffering.
Because Job has experienced enormous losses, Eliphaz assumes that Job must have committed enormous sins. The suffering becomes his evidence, even though he cannot identify any real wrongdoing.
This is one of the most important problems in the friends' reasoning throughout the book.
Eliphaz then describes Job's suffering as being surrounded by traps, darkness, floods, and terror. He believes these disasters are the consequences of Job's supposed actions. He also accuses Job of having a distorted view of God, suggesting that Job thinks God cannot see what happens because He is hidden behind the clouds.
The speech then returns to the traditional idea that the wicked are eventually destroyed. Eliphaz describes their foundations being swept away and their possessions being consumed. He acknowledges that God may sometimes allow wicked people to prosper for a time, but he insists that their prosperity will not ultimately last.
The most interesting part of the chapter comes near the end.
After accusing Job of serious wrongdoing, Eliphaz suddenly offers him a path to restoration.
He tells Job to return to God, accept His instruction, remove wrongdoing, and make God his treasure. If Job does this, Eliphaz believes that God will restore his prosperity, answer his prayers, give him successful plans, and allow him to live with confidence again.
In other words, Eliphaz's solution is essentially:
Repent ? reconcile with God ? receive restoration.
From Eliphaz's perspective, this is compassionate advice. He believes he is showing Job how to recover.
But from the perspective of the reader, the advice is deeply flawed because it assumes something that has not been established: that Job's suffering is punishment for hidden sin.
Job has repeatedly denied this.
The historical setting helps explain why Eliphaz thinks this way. In the ancient Near East, prosperity, land, livestock, children, household security, health, and social reputation were often interpreted as signs of blessing. Poverty, illness, loss, and social disgrace could therefore be interpreted as signs of divine disfavor.
Eliphaz is operating within this traditional framework.
Yet the book of Job is deliberately challenging that framework.
The chapter also contains an important theme concerning wealth and true security. Eliphaz encourages Job to stop treating material wealth as his treasure and instead regard God Himself as his greatest possession. Even though his reasoning about Job's guilt is wrong, this part of his speech introduces a significant spiritual idea: genuine security cannot ultimately be based on possessions.
The imagery of light, treasure, lifted faces, successful plans, and restored prayer creates a picture of what Eliphaz believes Job's future could become if he returns to God.
The final verse is particularly interesting because Eliphaz suggests that Job's restored righteousness could even have a positive effect on others. He imagines Job becoming someone through whom another person could be rescued.
The central theme of Job Chapter 22 is the conflict between genuine spiritual truth and an incorrect application of that truth to a particular person's suffering.
Eliphaz is right that God is greater than humanity, that injustice against the vulnerable is serious, that material wealth should not become a person's ultimate treasure, and that reconciliation with God is valuable.
But he is wrong to conclude that Job's suffering proves Job committed the specific sins he describes.
His biggest mistake is confusing a general principle with a specific explanation.
A person may suffer because of wrongdoing, but that does not mean every suffering person has committed the wrongdoing that would supposedly explain his suffering.
The chapter therefore exposes a recurring danger in religious reasoning: using correct principles without sufficient knowledge of the individual situation.
Eliphaz believes he is helping Job by showing him the path back to prosperity, but his advice actually adds another burden because it requires Job to confess sins he knows he did not commit.
The chapter ends with a picture of possible restoration, but Job cannot accept Eliphaz's solution because it is based on a false diagnosis.
Job Chapter 22 therefore deepens the central question of the book: Can human beings confidently explain another person's suffering when they cannot see the entire picture? Eliphaz believes he can. The continuing story will demonstrate why that confidence is misplaced.
The accusations are striking because the reader knows from the beginning of the book that Job was described as a righteous man. Eliphaz, however, does not have access to that information. He is trying to explain Job's suffering using the only framework he trusts: serious suffering must be the result of serious wrongdoing.
Eliphaz begins by emphasizing God's greatness. He argues that God does not need human righteousness and does not depend on human beings for anything. From this perspective, Eliphaz believes Job has no reason to question God's judgment.
He then makes his accusation explicit: Job's wickedness must be great.
Rather than simply saying that Job has sinned, Eliphaz invents specific examples of wrongdoing. He accuses Job of taking people's clothing as security, refusing water to the thirsty, withholding food from the hungry, favoring powerful landowners, and neglecting widows and orphans.
These accusations are important because they focus on exactly the kinds of social injustices that ancient wisdom traditions strongly condemned. The vulnerable—especially widows, orphans, the poor, and debtors—were considered people who required protection.
Eliphaz's argument is therefore not morally empty. The actions he describes would indeed have been serious injustices.
The problem is that he has no evidence that Job actually committed them.
He is reasoning backward from Job's suffering.
Because Job has experienced enormous losses, Eliphaz assumes that Job must have committed enormous sins. The suffering becomes his evidence, even though he cannot identify any real wrongdoing.
This is one of the most important problems in the friends' reasoning throughout the book.
Eliphaz then describes Job's suffering as being surrounded by traps, darkness, floods, and terror. He believes these disasters are the consequences of Job's supposed actions. He also accuses Job of having a distorted view of God, suggesting that Job thinks God cannot see what happens because He is hidden behind the clouds.
The speech then returns to the traditional idea that the wicked are eventually destroyed. Eliphaz describes their foundations being swept away and their possessions being consumed. He acknowledges that God may sometimes allow wicked people to prosper for a time, but he insists that their prosperity will not ultimately last.
The most interesting part of the chapter comes near the end.
After accusing Job of serious wrongdoing, Eliphaz suddenly offers him a path to restoration.
He tells Job to return to God, accept His instruction, remove wrongdoing, and make God his treasure. If Job does this, Eliphaz believes that God will restore his prosperity, answer his prayers, give him successful plans, and allow him to live with confidence again.
In other words, Eliphaz's solution is essentially:
Repent ? reconcile with God ? receive restoration.
From Eliphaz's perspective, this is compassionate advice. He believes he is showing Job how to recover.
But from the perspective of the reader, the advice is deeply flawed because it assumes something that has not been established: that Job's suffering is punishment for hidden sin.
Job has repeatedly denied this.
The historical setting helps explain why Eliphaz thinks this way. In the ancient Near East, prosperity, land, livestock, children, household security, health, and social reputation were often interpreted as signs of blessing. Poverty, illness, loss, and social disgrace could therefore be interpreted as signs of divine disfavor.
Eliphaz is operating within this traditional framework.
Yet the book of Job is deliberately challenging that framework.
The chapter also contains an important theme concerning wealth and true security. Eliphaz encourages Job to stop treating material wealth as his treasure and instead regard God Himself as his greatest possession. Even though his reasoning about Job's guilt is wrong, this part of his speech introduces a significant spiritual idea: genuine security cannot ultimately be based on possessions.
The imagery of light, treasure, lifted faces, successful plans, and restored prayer creates a picture of what Eliphaz believes Job's future could become if he returns to God.
The final verse is particularly interesting because Eliphaz suggests that Job's restored righteousness could even have a positive effect on others. He imagines Job becoming someone through whom another person could be rescued.
The central theme of Job Chapter 22 is the conflict between genuine spiritual truth and an incorrect application of that truth to a particular person's suffering.
Eliphaz is right that God is greater than humanity, that injustice against the vulnerable is serious, that material wealth should not become a person's ultimate treasure, and that reconciliation with God is valuable.
But he is wrong to conclude that Job's suffering proves Job committed the specific sins he describes.
His biggest mistake is confusing a general principle with a specific explanation.
A person may suffer because of wrongdoing, but that does not mean every suffering person has committed the wrongdoing that would supposedly explain his suffering.
The chapter therefore exposes a recurring danger in religious reasoning: using correct principles without sufficient knowledge of the individual situation.
Eliphaz believes he is helping Job by showing him the path back to prosperity, but his advice actually adds another burden because it requires Job to confess sins he knows he did not commit.
The chapter ends with a picture of possible restoration, but Job cannot accept Eliphaz's solution because it is based on a false diagnosis.
Job Chapter 22 therefore deepens the central question of the book: Can human beings confidently explain another person's suffering when they cannot see the entire picture? Eliphaz believes he can. The continuing story will demonstrate why that confidence is misplaced.