Job 22:12-14

22:12 “Is not God on high in heaven? ¹ 

And see ²  the lofty stars, ³  how high they are!

22:13 But you have said, ‘What does God know?

Does he judge through such deep darkness? ⁴ 

22:14 Thick clouds are a veil for him, so he does not see us, ⁵ 

as he goes back and forth

in the vault ⁶  of heaven.’ ⁷ 

[22:12]  ¹ tn This reading preserves the text as it is. The nouns “high” and “heavens” would then be taken as adverbial accusatives of place (see GKC 373-74 §118.g).

[22:12]  ² tn The parallel passage in Isa 40:26-27, as well as the context here, shows that the imperative is to be retained here. The LXX has “he sees.”

[22:12]  ³ tn Heb “head of the stars.”

[22:13]  ⁴ sn Eliphaz is giving to Job the thoughts and words of the pagans, for they say, “How does God know, and is there knowledge in the Most High?” (see Ps 73:11; 94:11).

[22:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “and he does not see.” The implied object is “us.”

[22:14]  ⁶ sn The word is “circle; dome”; here it is the dome that covers the earth, beyond which God sits enthroned. A. B. Davidson (Job, 165) suggests “on the arch of heaven” that covers the earth.

[22:14]  ⁷ sn The idea suggested here is that God is not only far off, but he is unconcerned as he strolls around heaven – this is what Eliphaz says Job means.