Job 22:5
in Job 22Is not your wickedness great? Are not your iniquities endless?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Is not thy wickedness great? Neither is there any end to thine iniquities.
KJV
Is not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities infinite?
⋯
This verse in Job 22
Commentary
8 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Is not thy wickedness great? - That is, “Is it not utter presumption and folly for a man, whose wickedness is undoubtedly so great, to presume to enter into a litigation with God?” Eliphaz here “assumes” it as an undeniable proposition, that Job was a great sinner. This charge had not been directly made before.
This site's exposition
Is it for your reverence that He rebukes you
on Job 22:4-5
Eliphaz moves from a question straight to an outright charge: "Is not your wickedness great". Nothing between verse 4 and verse 5 supplies evidence for the leap, and the accusation follows from the theology alone. Henry marks this as the turn where Eliphaz names Job as a great sinner.
This site's exposition
Is not your wickedness great
Here Eliphaz makes a direct charge for the first time, as Barnes notes: Job is a great sinner. Wesley sets out the logic behind it, that Job's calamities must match his sins in measure. Clarke hears endless iniquities as sins without end.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
Then, since Job had said that the opinions of those who had said that his house had perished like "the tents of the wicked" (21:28) were unjust, Eliphaz intends to show that his opinion is right when he says, "Is it not because of your …
Is it not for thy wickedness that is great, and thine iniquities that are infinite? Observe how from a deadened heart he came to idle words, and from idle words in the heinousness of lying he blazed out into insults. For these are the descents of increasing sin, that the tongue when not restrained should never there where it has fallen lie still, but be always descending to what is worse; but these things that are subjoined, because they are very plain taken after the history, do not need to be set forth after the letter.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Evil - Is not thy evil, thy affliction, are not thy calamities procured by, and proportionable to thy sins.
Is not thy wickedness great?.... It must be owned it is, it cannot be denied.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Is not thy wickedness great? - Thy sins are not only many, but they are great; and of thy continuance in them there is no end, אין קץ ein kets.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הֲלֹ֣א | halo' | ¿ not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| רָעָֽתְךָ֣ | raatekha | [is] evil your | H7451 → | 662 times |
| רַבָּ֑ה | rabah | great | H7227 → | 454 times |
| וְאֵֽין־ | veein- | and not? | H369 → | 789 times |
| קֵ֝֗ץ | ketz | an end | H7093 → | 67 times |
| לַעֲוֹנֹתֶֽיךָ׃ | laavonoteikha | [belongs] to iniquities your | H5771 → | 233 times |
הֲלֹ֣א¿ not
halo'H3808 →5168 times
רָעָֽתְךָ֣[is] evil your
raatekhaH7451 →662 times
רַבָּ֑הgreat
rabahH7227 →454 times
וְאֵֽין־and not?
veein-H369 →789 times
קֵ֝֗ץan end
ketzH7093 →67 times
לַעֲוֹנֹתֶֽיךָ׃[belongs] to iniquities your
laavonoteikhaH5771 →233 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Job 11:6and disclose to you the secrets of wisdom, for true wisdom has two sides. Know then that God exacts from you less than your iniquity deserves.
it leads to
- Ezra 9:13
After all that has come upon us because of our evil deeds and our great guilt (though You, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserve and have given us such a…
- Lamentations 3:22
Because of the loving devotion of the LORD we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail.
- Matthew 13:35
So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet: “I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden since the foundation of the world.”
- Daniel 2:28
But there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the latter days. Your dream and the visions that came into your…
- Ezra 9:13
Through
Psalms 40:12For evils without number surround me; my sins have overtaken me, so that I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart has failed within me.
it leads to
- Psalms 38:4
For my iniquities have overwhelmed me; they are a burden too heavy to bear.
- Psalms 73:26
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
- Psalms 69:4
Those who hate me without cause outnumber the hairs of my head; many are those who would destroy me— my enemies for no reason. Though I did not steal, I must repay.
- Psalms 38:4
Through
Job 11:14if you put away the iniquity in your hand, and allow no injustice to dwell in your tents,
it leads to
- Job 22:23
If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored. If you remove injustice from your tents
- Job 22:23
About Job

This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Job; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XVI; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.
