Job 22

Eliphaz's Third Speech

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered,

²“Can a man be profitable to God? Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself.

³Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that you are righteous? Or does it benefit him that you make your ways perfect?

⁴Is it for your piety that he reproves you, that he enters with you into judgment?

⁵Isn’t your wickedness great? Neither is there any end to your iniquities.

⁶For you have taken pledges from your brother for nothing, and stripped the naked of their clothing.

⁷You haven’t given water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry.

⁸But as for the mighty man, he had the earth. The honorable man, he lived in it.

⁹You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.

¹⁰Therefore snares are around you. Sudden fear troubles you,

¹¹or 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!

¹³You say, ‘What does God know? Can he judge through the thick darkness?

¹⁴Thick clouds are a covering to him, so that he doesn’t see. He walks on the vault of the sky.’

¹⁵Will you keep the old way, which wicked men have trodden,

¹⁶who were snatched away before their time, whose foundation was poured out as a stream,

¹⁷who said to God, ‘Depart from us!’ and, ‘What can the Almighty do for us?’

¹⁸Yet he filled their houses with good things, but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.

¹⁹The righteous see it, and are glad. The innocent ridicule them,

²⁰saying, ‘Surely those who rose up against us are cut off. The fire has consumed their remnant.’

²¹“Acquaint yourself with him now, and be at peace. By it, good will come to you.

²²Please receive instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart.

²³If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up, if you put away unrighteousness far from your tents.

²⁴Lay your treasure in the dust, the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks.

²⁵The Almighty will be your treasure, and precious silver to you.

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

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

²⁸You will also decree a thing, and it will be established to you. Light will shine on your ways.

²⁹When they cast down, you will say, ‘be lifted up.’ He will save the humble person.

³⁰He will even deliver him who is not innocent. Yes, he will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”

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Next Job 23

Eliphaz delivers his final and harshest speech, directly accusing Job of specific sins including oppressing the poor, withholding charity, and mistreating widows and orphans. He argues that God's judgment is perfectly just and that Job's suffering proves his wickedness, while offering hope for restoration if Job will repent and return to God. This speech represents the climax of the friends' accusations, moving from general assumptions about suffering to explicit moral charges.

Context

This concludes the three cycles of speeches from Job's friends, with Eliphaz making the most severe accusations yet, setting up Job's final defense in the following chapters.

Key Themes

Outline

1-5
God's Independence and Job's Guilt Eliphaz argues that God gains nothing from human righteousness and directly accuses Job of great wickedness
6-11
Specific Accusations Against Job Detailed charges of oppressing the poor, withholding charity, and mistreating the vulnerable, leading to Job's current troubles
12-20
God's Omniscience and Justice Eliphaz refutes the idea that God cannot see human actions and cites the fate of the wicked as proof of divine justice
21-30
Call to Repentance and Promise of Restoration An appeal for Job to reconcile with God, promising spiritual and material blessings if he abandons his supposed wickedness

Eliphaz's Third Speech

22:1–22:30

wisdom speech urgent

Eliphaz delivers his third speech accusing Job of great wickedness and injustice toward the poor, urging him to repent and return to God for restoration.

person_contrast

Eliphaz's final speech uniquely combines his typical themes of divine judgment with an unprecedented focus on social justice, listing specific sins against the poor that appear nowhere else in his previous arguments.