Job 22

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Job 22 is the third and last speech of Eliphaz, and the point at which Job's friends stop arguing in general terms and start accusing him of specific crimes. Since God gains nothing from piety, Eliphaz reasons, the only explanation for Job's suffering is great wickedness, and he lists it: pledges taken from brothers, the naked stripped, the hungry refused, widows sent away empty, orphans crushed. Job thinks God cannot see through the clouds, like the wicked of old who were swept away. The speech ends with an invitation: return to the Almighty, put your gold in the dust, and God will be your gold and hear your prayers.

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Job 22 is where a friend becomes a prosecutor. Eliphaz has spoken twice already, first gently, then more sharply, and both times he has argued in general terms that the innocent do not suffer and the guilty do. Job has refused the argument, and now, in his last speech, Eliphaz does what a man does when his system will not bend: he supplies the evidence. Is not your wickedness great? he asks, and then he lists it as if he had seen it. You took your brothers' cloaks as security for nothing. You let the weary go thirsty and the hungry go without bread. You sent widows away with empty hands and broke the arms of orphans. None of it is true; the reader knows from the first chapter that God himself called Job blameless. Eliphaz then accuses Job of thinking God cannot see through the clouds and compares him to the generation swept away by the flood. And yet the speech ends with an invitation so lovely that it is quoted on its own to this day. Make peace with God. Receive his teaching. Throw your gold into the dust, and the Almighty will be your gold. Pray, and he will hear you. Your decisions will stand and light will shine on your roads, and you will even be able to rescue the guilty through the cleanness of your hands. Every sentence is orthodox, and the whole speech is wrong, because it is aimed at a man who has done nothing, by a friend who would rather accuse him than admit that he does not understand. At the end of the book, Job will pray for Eliphaz, and the last verse will come true in a way Eliphaz never intended.

مقاطع رئيسية

Job 22:1-5 Job 22:6-11 Job 22:21-30 Job 31:16-23 Job 42:7-9 Job 1:8

Historical and literary context

The book of Job is a poetic dialogue set in the land of Uz, outside Israel, in a patriarchal age, and probably composed between the seventh and fourth centuries BC. Eliphaz the Temanite comes from Edom, a region famous for wisdom, and he speaks first and most gently in the earlier cycles, appealing to a night vision and to experience. By the third cycle the friends' theology, that suffering is punishment for sin, has run out of general arguments, so Eliphaz supplies particulars. The crimes he names are the standard sins of the powerful in the prophets and the law: taking garments in pledge, withholding food and water, oppressing widows and orphans. Job will answer them point by point in chapter 31, and God will rebuke Eliphaz by name in chapter 42.

How the chapter unfolds

Verses 1 to 5 argue that God gains nothing from human righteousness, so Job's suffering must be punishment for great wickedness. Verses 6 to 11 charge Job with specific abuses of the poor and link them to the snares and darkness now around him. Verses 12 to 20 accuse Job of thinking God cannot see through the clouds, and compare him with the wicked of the flood generation, snatched away before their time while the righteous laughed. Verses 21 to 30 are the appeal: be reconciled to God, accept his instruction, lay your gold in the dust, and God will restore you, hear your prayers, light your path, and let you deliver even the guilty through your clean hands.

Why this chapter matters

Eliphaz's closing appeal contains some of the most beautiful lines in the friends' speeches: "Reconcile now and be at peace with Him," "the Almighty will be your gold," "you will pray to Him, and He will hear you," and they are often quoted as Scripture's own invitation, which in a sense they are and in a sense they are not, since God will say Eliphaz did not speak rightly. The chapter is the Bible's sharpest example of a true theology misapplied, of comfort turned into accusation, and of the way a system that has no room for innocent suffering ends by inventing guilt. Its last verse, that a righteous man's clean hands can rescue the guilty, is fulfilled ironically when Job prays for Eliphaz.

Interpretive tension to watch

Everything Eliphaz says about God is orthodox, and much of it is repeated elsewhere in Scripture, yet the book condemns him, which forces readers to ask how right words become wrong. His accusations against Job are fabricated, which the prologue has already told the reader, so the chapter must be read with knowledge Eliphaz does not have. Verse 30, "He will deliver even one who is not innocent," is textually difficult and has been translated in opposite senses. And the beauty of verses 21 to 28 tempts readers to lift them out of a speech the book treats as a failure.

أسئلة لهذا الفصل

Eliphaz invents crimes to make his theology fit Job's suffering. When have you seen a good belief defended by a bad accusation?
"The Almighty will be your gold." Eliphaz says it to the wrong man for the wrong reason. Is it still true, and how would you know?
God later says Eliphaz did not speak rightly about him. What was wrong with a speech in which nearly every sentence is orthodox?

Study with context

Use this as a chapter guide, then press deeper into the text itself. The goal is to slow down observation, notice structure, and ask better questions before jumping to conclusions.

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1 데만 사람 엘리바스가 대답하여 가로되 2 사람이 어찌 하나님께 유익하게 하겠느냐 ? 지혜로운 자도 스스로 유익할 따름이니라 3 네가 의로운들 전능자에게 무슨 기쁨이 있겠으며 네 행위가 온전한들 그에게 무슨 이익이 있겠느냐 ? 4 하나님이 너를 책망하시며 너를 심문하심이 너의 경외함을 인함이냐 5 네 악이 크지 아니하냐 네 죄악이 극하니라 6 까닭 없이 형제의 물건을 볼모 잡으며 헐벗은 자의 의복을 벗기며 7 갈한 자에게 물을 마시우지 아니하며 주린 자에게 식물을 주지 아니하였구나 8 권세 있는 자가 토지를 얻고 존귀한 자가 거기서 사는구나 9 네가 과부를 공수로 돌아가게 하며 고아의 팔을 꺾는구나 10 이러므로 올무들이 너를 둘러있고 두려움이 홀연히 너를 침범하며 11 어두움이 너로 보지 못하게 하고 창수가 너를 덮느니라 12 하나님이 높은 하늘에 계시지 아니하냐 ? 보라 ! 별의 높음이 얼마나 높은가 13 그러나 네 말은 하나님이 무엇을 아시며 흑암 중에서 어찌 심판하실 수 있으랴 14 빽빽한 구름이 그를 가리운즉 그가 보지 못하시고 궁창으로 걸어다니실 뿐이라 하는구나 15 네가 악인의 밟던 옛적 길을 지키려느냐 ? 16 그들은 때가 이르기 전에 끊어버리웠고 그 터는 하수로 인하여 함몰되었느니라 17 그들이 하나님께 말하기를 우리를 떠나소서 하며 또 말하기를 전능자가 우리를 위하여 무엇을 하실 수 있으랴 하였으나 18 하나님이 좋은 것으로 그 집에 채우셨느니라 악인의 계획은 나와 판이하니라 19 의인은 보고 기뻐하고 무죄자는 그들을 비웃기를 20 우리의 대적이 끊어졌고 그 남은 것이 불사른 바 되었다 하느니라 21 너는 하나님과 화목하고 평안하라 ! 그리하면 복이 네게 임하리라 ! 22 청컨대 너는 그 입에서 교훈을 받고 그 말씀을 네 마음에 두라 23 네가 만일 전능자에게로 돌아가고 또 네 장막에서 불의를 멀리 버리면 다시 흥하리라 24 네 보배를 진토에 버리고 오빌의 금을 강 가의 돌에 버리라 25 그리하면 전능자가 네 보배가 되시며 네게 귀한 은이 되시리니 26 이에 네가 전능자를 기뻐하여 하나님께로 얼굴을 들 것이라 27 너는 그에게 기도하겠고 그는 들으실 것이며 너의 서원한 것을 네가 갚으리라 28 네가 무엇을 경영하면 이루어질 것이요 네 길에 빛이 비취리라 29 네가 낮춤을 받거든 높아지리라고 말하라 하나님은 겸손한 자를 구원하시느니라 30 무죄한 자가 아니라도 건지시리니 네 손이 깨끗함을 인하여 그런 자가 건지심을 입으리라