This page gives you ready-to-use study questions for Job 22, with a leader’s answer or discussion note for each one. It is written for a small group, a Sunday class, or a personal study who want to work through the chapter verse by verse without preparing their own material from scratch. The questions move from what the text says, to what it means, to how it shapes everyday life.
Job 22 at a Glance
Job 22 is the third speech of Eliphaz the Temanite, the last of Job’s friends to speak in the first cycle of debate. He opens with a question about whether a person can be useful to God, then moves into a list of accusations against Job, assuming his suffering must come from hidden sin. He describes specific wrongs: taking pledges unjustly, leaving the thirsty and hungry unhelped, and turning away widows and orphans.
The second half of the chapter turns to a call to return to God. Eliphaz urges Job to make peace with the Almighty, receive instruction, and set aside wrongdoing, promising restoration and joy if he does. Read the chapter as one argument with two movements: an accusation resting on a wrong premise, followed by an appeal that Job will later have to answer.
Observation Questions
Use these questions first, before anyone offers an interpretation. Ask the group to point to the words on the page and keep their answers close to what the text states, leaving meaning and application for later.
Job 22:2
“Can a man be profitable to God? Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself.
(WEB)
Read this verse first to set the question that drives Eliphaz’s speech. Ask the group to consider whether human goodness adds anything to God, and to listen for how the rest of the chapter answers that question.
Job 22:5-7
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.
(WEB)
These verses contain the core accusations and show the concrete kinds of injustice Eliphaz names. Reading them aloud helps the group hear how specific and personal the charges are, and how they touch on the treatment of the poor.
Job 22:21
“Acquaint yourself with him, now, and be at peace. Thereby good shall come to you.
(WEB)
This verse marks the turn from accusation to appeal and gives the call to know God and be at peace. Reading it helps the group see the hopeful tone that Eliphaz adopts in the second half of his speech.
Job 22:25-26
25 The Almighty will be your treasure, and precious silver to you. 26 For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty, and shall lift up your face to God.
(WEB)
These verses describe the joy and delight that come from making God central to life. Reading them aloud invites the group to reflect on what it means to delight in God rather than merely to obey him.
Job 22:29
When they cast down, you shall say, ‘be lifted up.’ He will save the humble person.
(WEB)
This verse describes God as one who saves the humble, which offers a picture of God’s compassion. Reading it aloud gives the group a chance to end the study on a note of hope and to compare it with the chapter’s harsher opening.
Memory Verse for Job 22
A Closing Prayer for the Group
Father, we come to you having read a chapter full of accusations and hard questions, and we confess that we often speak about other people’s pain with more confidence than we should. Teach us to listen before we judge, and to see the needs of the poor and the vulnerable around us. Help us to know you more deeply, to receive your instruction gladly, and to treasure you above everything else we might want. Where we have assumed too much about others or about you, forgive us and open our hearts again. Lead each person here toward the peace and humility that come from knowing you. Amen.
