Job 22

Translator Notes

1. Eliphaz ha-Temani ('the Temanite') speaks for the third and final time. Teman was a region in Edom associated with wisdom (Jeremiah 49:7, Obadiah 8-9). Eliphaz has been the most measured of the three friends, but this speech abandons his earlier restraint entirely.

Translator Notes

1. The verb sakan ('to be of service, to be useful, to benefit') appears twice. The gaver ('strong man, hero') cannot benefit God. The maskil ('the wise one, the prudent one, the one who acts with insight') benefits only aleimu ('upon himself, for himself'). Eliphaz starts with God's transcendence — a true starting point — but draws a false conclusion from it.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The ha-chefets le-Shaddai ki titsddaq ('is it desire/pleasure to the Almighty that you are righteous?') — does God benefit from Job's righteousness? The ve-im betsa ki tattem derakhekha ('or is it gain/profit that you perfect your ways?'). The Shaddai ('the Almighty') is contrasted with human righteousness (tsadaq) and blamelessness (tamam). The tam ('blameless') root echoes God's own description of Job in 1:8 and 2:3 — Eliphaz unwittingly uses the very term God used to vindicate Job.

Translator Notes

1. The ha-mi-yir'atkha yokhichekha ('is it from your fear/reverence that he reproves you?') — Eliphaz asks rhetorically whether God is correcting Job because Job is too pious. The implied answer is absurd: of course not. The yavo immekha ba-mmishpat ('does he come with you into judgment?') — would God take a pious man to court? Eliphaz's logic is that since God would never punish piety, Job must have committed sins worthy of punishment.

Translator Notes

1. The pivot: ha-lo ra'atkha rabbah ('is not your evil/wickedness great?'). The ve-ein qets la-avonotekha ('and there is no end to your iniquities'). Eliphaz has moved from insinuation to direct accusation. The ein qets ('no end, infinite') is an extraordinary claim — Job's sins are not merely present but limitless. This is the necessary conclusion of Eliphaz's syllogism: God punishes sin, Job is being punished severely, therefore Job's sin must be severe. The logic is airtight and completely wrong.

Translator Notes

1. The first fabricated charge: tachbol achekha chinnam ('you took pledges from your brothers/kinsmen for nothing') — seizing collateral from family members without cause. The u-vigdei arummim tafshit ('and the garments of the naked you strip off'). Taking a poor person's garment as collateral was explicitly prohibited in Exodus 22:26-27 and Deuteronomy 24:12-13, because the cloak served as a blanket for sleeping. Eliphaz accuses Job of the exact crime the Torah forbids. The reader knows this is false — Job will later swear an oath denying these charges (31:19-20).

Translator Notes

1. The second fabricated charge: lo mayim ayef tashqeh ('not water to the weary/exhausted you give to drink'). The u-me-ra'ev timna lachem ('and from the hungry you withhold bread'). Denying water and bread to the needy is a fundamental violation of ancient Near Eastern hospitality law and Israelite covenant obligation (Isaiah 58:7, Ezekiel 18:7). Eliphaz constructs a portrait of Job as a cruel oppressor — the opposite of who Job actually was.

Translator Notes

1. The ve-ish zeroa ('and the man of arm/power') lo ha-arets ('to him the land') — Eliphaz describes a world where the powerful seize land. The u-nesu fanim ('and the one lifted of face, the honored one, the privileged one') yeshev bah ('dwells in it'). Eliphaz implies that Job was one of these powerful landowners who dispossessed others. The 'man of arm' is an idiom for someone who uses force to get what he wants.

Translator Notes

1. The climactic accusation: almanot shillachta reiqam ('widows you sent away empty') — Job allegedly dismissed vulnerable women with nothing. The u-zero'ot yetomim yedukka ('and the arms of the fatherless are crushed'). Widows and orphans are the two most protected categories in Israelite law (Exodus 22:22-24, Deuteronomy 10:18, 27:19). To abuse them invites divine wrath directly. Eliphaz is accusing Job of the most socially heinous crimes in Israel's moral vocabulary. The irony is savage: Job, who chapter 29 will reveal was the supreme protector of widows and orphans, is accused of being their oppressor.

Translator Notes

1. The al ken ('therefore, for this reason') draws the causal link: because of the crimes listed in verses 6-9, sevivotekha pachim ('around you are traps/snares') and vivahalekha pachad pit'om ('sudden fear/dread terrifies you'). Eliphaz's logic is simple: Job's suffering (snares, terror) is the direct consequence of Job's sins (oppression). The al ken is the hinge of retribution theology — the word 'therefore' that connects sin to suffering. Job has spent the entire dialogue trying to break this causal link.

Translator Notes

1. The o choshekh lo tir'eh ('or darkness — you cannot see') — Job's suffering is like being engulfed in impenetrable darkness. The ve-shif'at mayim tekhassekka ('and an abundance of waters covers you') — the flood imagery describes being overwhelmed, drowned in calamity. Both images — darkness and drowning — describe the totality of Job's affliction, which Eliphaz attributes to hidden sin.

Translator Notes

1. The ha-lo Eloha govah shamayim ('is not God in the height of the heavens?') establishes divine transcendence. The u-re'eh rosh kokhavim ki rammu ('and see the head/top of the stars, how high they are'). Eliphaz uses God's exalted position to set up his next argument: some people think God's height means he cannot see what happens below (verse 13). The stars' height is a measure of divine transcendence — but Eliphaz will argue that transcendence does not equal ignorance.

Translator Notes

1. Eliphaz attributes to Job the claim: ma yada El ('what does God know?') — that God is ignorant of human affairs. The ha-be'ad arafel yishpot ('can he judge through the deep darkness/thick cloud?') — the arafel is the dense cloud associated with God's presence on Sinai (Exodus 20:21, Deuteronomy 4:11). Eliphaz accuses Job of saying that the cloud that surrounds God blocks his vision. Job never actually said this — Eliphaz is constructing a straw man from Job's complaints about divine injustice.

Translator Notes

1. Continuing the alleged quote from Job: avim seter lo ('clouds are a covering/hiding-place for him') ve-lo yir'eh ('and he does not see'). The ve-chug shamayim yithalakh ('and the circle/vault of heaven he walks about'). The chug ('circle, vault, horizon') describes the dome of the sky. Eliphaz portrays Job as claiming God is a distant deity who strolls along the sky dome, hidden by clouds, oblivious to earthly affairs. This caricature is unfair — Job has never denied God's awareness; he has challenged God's justice.

Translator Notes

1. The ha-orach olam tishmor ('will you keep/guard the path of antiquity?') — Eliphaz warns Job against following the ancient road of the wicked. The asher darkhu metei aven ('which the men of wickedness/iniquity walked'). The orach olam ('eternal path, ancient way') may refer to the way of the generation before the flood (Genesis 6). Eliphaz implies Job is heading down the same path that led to divine catastrophe.

Translator Notes

1. The asher qummettu ve-lo et ('who were seized/shriveled and not in time, before their time') — premature death. The nahar yutsaq yesodam ('a river/flood was poured out on their foundation'). The flood reference almost certainly alludes to the generation of Noah (Genesis 6-8). Eliphaz cites the flood as proof that God does indeed judge the wicked — but Job has never denied that God sometimes judges. Job has denied that God always judges, and that all suffering is judgment.

Translator Notes

1. The ha-omerim la-El sur mimmenu ('those who say to God: depart from us') directly echoes Job's quotation in 21:14. Eliphaz throws Job's own words back at him — the wicked who dismissed God in Job's speech are now cited as examples of the path Job is following. The u-ma yif'al Shaddai lamo ('and what can the Almighty do for/to them?') — the wicked challenged the Almighty's power or relevance. Eliphaz implies that Job's complaints about divine injustice amount to the same defiance.

Translator Notes

1. The ve-hu mille batteihem tov ('and he filled their houses with good') — Eliphaz acknowledges (as Job did in 21:16) that God is the source of the wicked's prosperity. The va-atsat resha'im rachaqa menni ('and the counsel of the wicked is far from me') is an almost verbatim repetition of Job's own disclaimer in 21:16b. Eliphaz appropriates Job's language, claiming the same distance from wicked ideology. The verbal echo is pointed: I can say it too, and when I say it, I mean it.

Translator Notes

1. The yir'u tsaddiqim ve-yismachu ('the righteous see and rejoice') — when the wicked are finally punished, the righteous celebrate. The ve-naqi yil'ag lamo ('and the innocent one mocks them'). Eliphaz describes the satisfaction of the righteous when justice is done. The tsaddiqim ('righteous') and naqi ('innocent, clean') are exactly what Job claims to be — but Eliphaz has already placed Job among the wicked, not among the righteous onlookers.

Translator Notes

1. The righteous taunt the wicked: im lo nikhchad qimanu ('surely our adversary/opponent is cut off, destroyed'). The ve-yitram akhlah esh ('and their remnant/excess fire has consumed'). The qimanu is debated — it may mean 'our adversary,' 'our substance,' or 'those who rose against us.' The fire consuming the remnant echoes the supernatural fire in 20:26. The righteous rejoice that nothing of the wicked remains.

Translator Notes

1. Eliphaz shifts to appeal: hasken na immo ('be familiar with him, acquaint yourself with him now'). The u-shelam ('and be at peace, be reconciled'). The bahem tevo'atkha tovah ('through these things good will come to you'). The verb sakan ('to be familiar, to be of service, to know intimately') invites Job into restored relationship with God. The appeal is beautiful in isolation — the tragedy is that it presupposes Job has been estranged from God by his own wickedness, which is not true.

Translator Notes

1. The qach na mi-ppiv torah ('receive, please, from his mouth instruction/teaching') — torah here means 'instruction, teaching, guidance' rather than the formal Torah/Pentateuch. The ve-sim amarav bi-lvavekha ('and place his sayings in your heart'). Eliphaz counsels Job to listen to God's instruction and internalize it. The irony is that God's actual instruction, when it comes (chapters 38-41), will vindicate Job and rebuke Eliphaz.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The conditional promise: im tashuv ad Shaddai ('if you return to the Almighty') tivvaneh ('you will be built, you will be restored'). The verb shuv ('to return, to turn back, to repent') is the fundamental verb of repentance in Hebrew. The tarchiq avlah me-ohalekha ('put injustice far from your tent'). Eliphaz promises restoration through repentance — a true theological principle misapplied to a man who has nothing to repent of in the way Eliphaz means.

Translator Notes

1. The ve-shit al afar batser ('and put upon the dust gold/ore') — Eliphaz commands Job to throw his gold on the ground, treating it as worthless. The u-ve-tsur nechalim Ofir ('and in the rock of the streams, Ophir gold'). Ophir was the legendary source of the finest gold (1 Kings 9:28, 10:11). The command is to renounce wealth as a source of security. Ironically, Job will later swear that he never placed his trust in gold (31:24-25), making Eliphaz's command unnecessary.

Translator Notes

1. The wordplay is significant: batser ('gold, ore') in verse 24 becomes betsarekha ('your gold/treasure' or possibly 'your stronghold') in verse 25, with Shaddai as the subject. The verb hayah ('to be, to become') marks the exchange: throw away gold, receive God. The to'afot ('heaps, abundance, heights') describes the overwhelming quantity of divine provision.

Translator Notes

1. The ki az al Shaddai tit'annag ('for then over/upon the Almighty you will take delight') — the verb anag ('to be delicate, to take pleasure, to delight') describes intimate enjoyment of God's presence. The ve-tissa el Eloha panekha ('and you will lift your face to God') — the lifted face is the posture of confidence and intimacy, the opposite of the downcast face of shame. Eliphaz promises that repentance will restore Job's ability to look God in the eye.

Translator Notes

1. The ta'tir elav ('you will pray abundantly to him, you will entreat him') ve-yishma'ekka ('and he will hear you'). The u-nedarekha teshallem ('and your vows you will pay/fulfill'). Eliphaz promises that restored prayer will be answered and vows can be completed. The promise is fulfilled in a way Eliphaz never imagined: in 42:8-9, God instructs the friends to ask Job to pray for them. Job's prayer is the one that God hears — not as a restored sinner but as a vindicated righteous man.

Translator Notes

1. The ve-tigzar omer ('and you will decree a word/matter') ve-yaqom lakh ('and it will be established for you, it will stand') — Job's decisions will succeed, his plans will come to fruition. The ve-al derakhekha nagah or ('and upon your paths light shines'). Darkness was Job's condition (verse 11); Eliphaz promises light. The promise of light upon one's path echoes Psalm 119:105 ('your word is a lamp to my feet'). Eliphaz envisions full restoration: answered prayer, successful plans, illuminated paths.

Translator Notes

1. The ki hishpilu ('when they are brought low, humbled') va-tomer gevah ('and you will say: exaltation, lifting up, pride/height'). Job will become a source of hope for the humbled, declaring that God lifts up the lowly. The ve-shach einayim yoshia ('and the downcast of eyes he saves'). The shach einayim ('lowered eyes, cast-down eyes') describes humility or shame. God saves the humble. Eliphaz's theology here aligns with Hannah's song (1 Samuel 2:7-8) and Mary's Magnificat (Luke 1:52) — God brings down the proud and lifts up the lowly.

Translator Notes

1. The yemallit i naqi ('he delivers the not-innocent' or 'he delivers the island/coastland of the innocent') — the phrase is textually difficult. If i naqi means 'not innocent,' then even the guilty are delivered through the intercession of a righteous person. If it means 'the island of the innocent,' it describes God's protection of the innocent. The ve-nimlat be-vor kappekha ('and he is rescued by the cleanness/purity of your hands'). Either way, Eliphaz promises that clean hands lead to deliverance. The supreme irony: in 42:8, Job's clean hands will indeed deliver Eliphaz himself. The friend who demanded Job repent will be saved by Job's prayer. Eliphaz spoke more truly than he knew.