Eliphaz shows that man's goodness does not profit God, 1-4. He accuses Job of various sins, 5-20. He exhorts him to repentance, with promises of mercy, 21-30.
1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,
2 "Can a man be profitable to God,/
as he who is wise may be profitable to himself?
3 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that you are righteous?/
Or is it gain to him that you make your ways perfect?
4 Will he reprove you for fear of you?/
Will he enter with you into judgment?
5 Is your wickedness not great/
and your iniquities infinite?
6 For you have taken a pledge from your brother for nothing/
and stripped the naked of their clothing.
7 You have not 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,/
and the honorable man dwelt in it.
9 You have sent widows away empty,/
and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.
10 Therefore, snares are around you,/
and sudden fear troubles you,
11 Or darkness so that you cannot see,/
and abundance of waters cover you.
12 Is God not in the height of heaven?/
And behold the height of the stars, how high they are!
13 And you say, 'How does God know?/
Can he judge through the dark cloud?
14 Thick clouds are a covering to him so that he does not see,/
and he walks in the circuit of heaven.'
15 Have you marked the old way/
which wicked men have trodden?
16 They were cut down out of time,/
their foundation was overflowed with a flood!
17 They 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,/
and the innocent deride them:
20 'Surely our substance is not cut down,/
and the fire consumes their remnant.'
21 Now acquaint yourself with him and be at peace./
By this good shall come to you.
22 Receive, I pray you, the law 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 iniquity far from your tabernacles,
24 Then you shall lay up gold as dust/
and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks.
25 The Almighty shall even be your defense/
and you shall have plenty of silver.
26 For then you shall have your delight in the Almighty/
and shall lift up your face to God.
27 You shall make your prayer to him, and he shall hear you,/
and you shall pay your vows.
28 You shall also decree a thing,/
and it shall be established to you./
And the light shall shine upon your ways.
29 When men are cast down, you shall say,/
'There is exaltation,'/
and he shall save the humble person.
30 He shall deliver even him who is not innocent./
And he shall be delivered by the pureness of your hands."
Matthew Henry Commentary - Job, Chapter 22[➚]
John Gill's Chapter Summary:
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 (verses 1-3); and as if he reproved and chastised him, because of his fear of him, whereas it was because of his sins (verses 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 (verses 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 (verses 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 (verses 21-30).