Job 22:23-30

22:23 If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up; ¹ 

if you remove wicked behavior far from your tent,

22:24 and throw ²  your gold ³  in the dust –

your gold ⁴  of Ophir

among the rocks in the ravines –

22:25 then the Almighty himself will be your gold, ⁵ 

and the choicest ⁶  silver for you.

22:26 Surely then you will delight yourself ⁷  in the Almighty,

and will lift up your face toward God.

22:27 You will pray to him and he will hear you,

and you will fulfill your vows to him. ⁸ 

22:28 Whatever you decide ⁹  on a matter,

it will be established for you,

and light will shine on your ways.

22:29 When people are brought low ¹⁰  and you say

‘Lift them up!’ ¹¹ 

then he will save the downcast; ¹² 

22:30 he will deliver even someone who is not innocent, ¹³ 

who will escape ¹⁴  through the cleanness of your hands.”

[22:23]  ¹ tc The MT has “you will be built up” (תִּבָּנֶה, tibbaneh). But the LXX has “humble yourself” (reading תְּעַנֶּה [tÿ’anneh] apparently). Many commentators read this; Dahood has “you will be healed.”

[22:24]  ² tc The form is the imperative. Eliphaz is telling Job to get rid of his gold as evidence of his repentance. Many commentators think that this is too improbable for Eliphaz to have said, and that Job has lost everything anyway, and so they make proposals for the text. Most would follow Theodotion and the Syriac to read וְשָׁתָּ (vÿshatta, “and you will esteem….”). This would mean that he is promising Job restoration of his wealth.

[22:24]  ³ tn The word for “gold” is the rare בֶּצֶר (betser), which may be derived from a cognate of Arabic basara, “to see; to examine.” If this is the case, the word here would refer to refined gold. The word also forms a fine wordplay with בְצוּר (bÿtsur, “in the rock”).

[22:24]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew text simply has “Ophir,” a metonymy for the gold that comes from there.

[22:25]  ⁵ tn The form for “gold” here is plural, which could be a plural of extension. The LXX and Latin versions have “The Almighty will be your helper against your enemies.”

[22:25]  ⁶ tn E. Dhorme (Job, 339) connects this word with an Arabic root meaning “to be elevated, steep.” From that he gets “heaps of silver.”

[22:26]  ⁷ tc This is the same verb as in Ps 37:4. G. R. Driver suggests the word comes from another root that means “abandon oneself to, depend on” (“Problems in the Hebrew text of Job,” VTSup 3 [1955]: 84).

[22:27]  ⁸ tn The words “to him” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.

[22:28]  ⁹ tn The word is גָּזַר (gazar, “to cut”), in the sense of deciding a matter.

[22:29]  ¹⁰ tn There is no expressed subject here, and so the verb is taken as a passive voice again.

[22:29]  ¹¹ tn The word גֵּוָה (gevah) means “loftiness; pride.” Here it simply says “up,” or “pride.” The rest is paraphrased. Of the many suggestions, the following provide a sampling: “It is because of pride” (ESV), “he abases pride” (H. H. Rowley); “[he abases] the lofty and the proud” (Beer); “[he abases] the word of pride” [Duhm]; “[he abases] the haughtiness of pride” [Fohrer and others]; “[he abases] the one who speaks proudly” [Weiser]; “[he abases] the one who boasts in pride” [Kissane]; and “God [abases] pride” [Budde, Gray].

[22:29]  ¹² tn Or “humble”; Heb “the lowly of eyes.”

[22:30]  ¹³ tc The Hebrew has אִי־נָקִי (’i naqi), which could be taken as “island of the innocent” (so Ibn-Ezra), or “him that is not innocent” (so Rashi). But some have changed אִי (’i) to אִישׁ (’ish, “the innocent man”). Others differ: A. Guillaume links אִי (’i) to Arabic ‘ayya “whosoever,” and so leaves the text alone. M. Dahood secures the same idea from Ugaritic, but reads it אֵי (’e).

[22:30]  ¹⁴ tc The MT has “he will escape [or be delivered].” Theodotion has the second person, “you will be delivered.”