Single lesson
Job 22: Comparing the Voices in the Debate
Job 22:1–30
Eliphaz answers Job by arguing that God does not gain from human righteousness, then accusing Job of serious wrongs and urging him to return to the Almighty. This passage records Eliphaz’s speech in the dialogue.
Before you teach
In Job 22:1-30, Eliphaz the Temanite speaks. He asks whether a person can profit God, claims Job’s troubles come from great wickedness, warns about the way of the wicked, and then calls Job to receive God’s words and return to him.
Explain the central teaching of Job 22: Comparing the Voices in the Debate, using two details from the reading. This passage shows Eliphaz linking suffering with guilt and urging a return to God, so readers should follow both his accusations and his appeal in their order.
Welcome: Job 22: Comparing the Voices in the Debate
5 minIntroduce “Eliphaz: Can a Man Be of Use to God?” and locate Job 22:1–30. This passage shows Eliphaz linking suffering with guilt and urging a return to God, so readers should follow both his accusations and his appeal in their order. Invite each learner to name a detail or question they will listen for.
Job 22:1, Job 22:16, Job 22:30
Read and explain the passage
12 minEliphaz opens with questions. He says a human is not profitable to God, while a wise person is profitable to himself. He also asks whether the Almighty gains pleasure or benefit from someone’s righteousness or blameless conduct. These questions set up his argument about Job’s suffering.
Eliphaz says snares, fear, darkness, and floods have come because of such wrong. He then accuses Job of speaking as if thick clouds hide people from God’s judgment. Next he points to the old path of wicked people who told God to depart, and he says the righteous are glad when such people are cut off.
After warning, Eliphaz urges Job to acquaint himself with God, receive instruction, and store up God’s words in his heart. He says returning to the Almighty means putting away unrighteousness and treating gold like dust, because the Almighty will be the true treasure. Then he lists expected results: delight, heard prayer, light, help for the humble, and deliverance linked with clean hands.
Read the selected verses together, pausing at “Eliphaz: Can a Man Be of Use to God?”. Use the source reading below and check the explanation against the words of the passage.
Job 22:2, Job 22:3, Job 22:10, Job 22:11, Job 22:12, Job 22:13, Job 22:14, Job 22:15, Job 22:16, Job 22:17, Job 22:18, Job 22:19, Job 22:20, Job 22:21, Job 22:22, Job 22:23, Job 22:24, Job 22:25, Job 22:26, Job 22:27, Job 22:28, Job 22:29, Job 22:30
Discuss the details and their meaning
8 minUse the three questions below. Begin with “What does Eliphaz say about whether a person can benefit God?” and allow time to find the supporting verses. This passage shows Eliphaz linking suffering with guilt and urging a return to God, so readers should follow both his accusations and his appeal in their order. Ask learners to explain which details support their answer and to identify a question they would like to explore further.
Job 22:2, Job 22:3, Job 22:6, Job 22:7, Job 22:8, Job 22:9, Job 22:17, Job 22:18, Job 22:19, Job 22:20, Job 22:21, Job 22:22, Job 22:23
Make and respond: Wisdom comparison cards
12 minWork on “Job 22: Comparing the Voices in the Debate: Wisdom comparison cards”. Follow the materials and steps below, using “Eliphaz: Can a Man Be of Use to God?” as reading headings. Each learner should include at least two accurate details and their verse references. Share one observation from the finished sheet and explain how it connects with the central teaching.
Job 22:1, Job 22:16, Job 22:30
Closing: return to Eliphaz: Can a Man Be of Use to God?
3 minRevisit Job 22:1–30. Invite a learner to summarise what the group has learned about Eliphaz: Can a Man Be of Use to God? and another to support the summary with a verse. Give learners a moment to complete their response sheet. They can share a question or, if appropriate for the group, join the optional prayer.
Job 22:1, Job 22:16, Job 22:30
Questions to explore
What does Eliphaz say about whether a person can benefit God?
Read his opening questions and notice the difference he draws between profiting God and being profitable to oneself.
Job 22:2, Job 22:3
Which actions does Eliphaz use to accuse Job?
List the specific deeds he names, especially his claims about pledges, food, drink, widows, and the fatherless.
Job 22:6, Job 22:7, Job 22:8, Job 22:9
How does Eliphaz move from warning to appeal?
Trace the shift from the wicked saying, ‘Depart from us’, to Eliphaz distancing himself from their counsel, the righteous reacting, and then his commands to know God and return.
Job 22:17, Job 22:18, Job 22:19, Job 22:20, Job 22:21, Job 22:22, Job 22:23
Make, think or respond
Job 22: Comparing the Voices in the Debate: Wisdom comparison cards
What you’ll need
- plain paper or card
- pencils or pens
- a Bible or the source reading on this page
Try it together
- Fold a sheet into three panels or draw three columns. Label them “What the passage commends”, “What it warns against”, “The reason or outcome stated”.
- Read Job 22:1–30. Use “Eliphaz: Can a Man Be of Use to God?” as your reading headings and add a short quotation or detail with its verse reference to each panel.
- Compare your notes with a partner. Check that every quotation is accurate and every conclusion has support in the passage.
- Write a proposed everyday example beside one teaching. Label it as your example and explain which words in the text guided it.
The finished sheet keeps the details of Job 22: Comparing the Voices in the Debate connected to their Bible references and gives the group a way to explain what they noticed.
Adapt for your group
- For learners who need more support, prepare the reading headings “Eliphaz: Can a Man Be of Use to God?” and let them match short quotations to the correct heading.
- For confident readers, compare two sections of Job 22:1–30. Ask for a written explanation with two supporting references and one question that the text leaves open.
An optional closing prayer
“God, help us listen carefully as we read Job 22:1–30. Help us understand what we have read, ask thoughtful questions and respond with care for others. Amen.”
Read the Bible passage World English Bible Classic
Job 22
1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered,
2 “Can a man be profitable to God? Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself.
3 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that you are righteous? Or does it benefit him that you make your ways perfect?
4 Is it for your piety that he reproves you, that he enters with you into judgment?
5 Isn’t your wickedness great? Neither is there any end to your iniquities.
6 For you have taken pledges from your brother for nothing, and stripped the naked of their clothing.
7 You haven’t 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. The honorable man, he lived in it.
9 You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.
10 Therefore snares are around you. Sudden fear troubles you,
11 or darkness, so that you can not see, and floods of waters cover you.
12 “Isn’t God in the heights of heaven? See the height of the stars, how high they are!
13 You say, ‘What does God know? Can he judge through the thick darkness?
14 Thick clouds are a covering to him, so that he doesn’t see. He walks on the vault of the sky.’
15 Will you keep the old way, which wicked men have trodden,
16 who were snatched away before their time, whose foundation was poured out as a stream,
17 who 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. The innocent ridicule them,
20 saying, ‘Surely those who rose up against us are cut off. The fire has consumed their remnant.’
21 “Acquaint yourself with him now, and be at peace. By it, good will come to you.
22 Please receive instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart.
23 If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up, if you put away unrighteousness far from your tents.
24 Lay your treasure in the dust, the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks.
25 The Almighty will be your treasure, and precious silver to you.
26 For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty, and will lift up your face to God.
27 You will make your prayer to him, and he will hear you. You will pay your vows.
28 You will also decree a thing, and it will be established to you. Light will shine on your ways.
29 When they cast down, you will say, ‘be lifted up.’ He will save the humble person.
30 He will even deliver him who is not innocent. Yes, he will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”
World English Bible Classic. Public domain.