“Is it because of your fear of Him that He corrects you, And enters into judgment with you?
Parallel translations
- WEB Is it for your piety that he reproves you, that he enters with you into judgment?
- KJV Will he reprove thee for fear of thee? will he enter with thee into judgment?
- BSB Is it for your reverence that He rebukes you and enters into judgment against you?
- NASB “Is it because of your reverence that He punishes you, That He enters into judgment against you?
- NLT Is it because you’re so pious that he accuses you and brings judgment against you?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Eliphaz sarcastically asks whether God is punishing Job for his piety, implying instead that Job's sin is the obvious cause. He rules out any explanation but guilt.
Overview
Eliphaz mocks the idea that a righteous man could be reproved, insisting Job's suffering must stem from wickedness. He cannot conceive of innocent suffering. The book of Job, and supremely the cross of Christ, refute this: the truly innocent One suffered, not for His own sin, but in the will of God for the salvation of others.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Job 14:3Do you open your eyes on such a one, and bring me into judgment with you?
- Ps 143:2Don’t enter into judgment with your servant, for in your sight no man living is righteous.
- Isa 3:14–15Yahweh will enter into judgment with the elders of his people, and their leaders: “It is you who have eaten up the vineyard. The plunder of the poor is in your houses.
- Rev 3:19As many as I love, I reprove and chasten. Be zealous therefore, and repent.
- Job 9:19If it is a matter of strength, behold, he is mighty! If of justice, ‘Who,’ says he, ‘will summon me?’
- Job 19:29be afraid of the sword, for wrath brings the punishments of the sword, that you may know there is a judgment.”
- Job 23:6–7Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power? No, but he would listen to me.
- Ps 130:3–4If you, Yah, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand?
- Job 34:23For he doesn’t need to consider a man further, that he should go before God in judgment.
- Job 7:12Am I a sea, or a sea monster, that you put a guard over me?
- Ps 80:16It’s burned with fire. It’s cut down. They perish at your rebuke.
- Ps 39:11When you rebuke and correct man for iniquity, You consume his wealth like a moth. Surely every man is but a breath.” Selah.
- Job 16:21that he would maintain the right of a man with God, of a son of man with his neighbor!
- Ps 76:6At your rebuke, God of Jacob, both chariot and horse are cast into a dead sleep.
- Job 9:32For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, that we should come together in judgment.
- Eccl 12:14For God will bring every work into judgment, with every hidden thing, whether it is good, or whether it is evil.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 22:4 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.