“If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles.”
My Notes
What Does Job 22:23 Mean?
"If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles." Eliphaz offers Job a conditional promise: return to God and two things happen — you'll be rebuilt and your iniquity will be removed from your household. The 'if' makes the promise contingent on Job's repentance. The rebuilding requires returning.
The phrase "thou shalt be built up" (tibbaneh — you will be built, constructed, established) uses architectural language: God doesn't just heal the returning person. He rebuilds them. The restoration is structural — foundation, walls, completion. The person who returns isn't just forgiven. They're reconstructed.
The "put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles" extends the restoration to Job's household: not just personal purification but domestic cleansing. The tabernacles (ohaleka — your tents, your dwelling places) represent Job's entire life structure. The iniquity is removed far — not just pushed aside but placed at a great distance.
Reflection Questions
- 1.What would God rebuild in your life if you returned to Him fully?
- 2.How does 'built up' — architectural reconstruction — differ from simple forgiveness?
- 3.What iniquity needs to be put far from your 'tabernacles' — your home, your daily life?
- 4.What does the promise extending to your household teach about the communal impact of personal repentance?
Devotional
Return — and you'll be rebuilt. The promise is beautiful even if Eliphaz applies it wrongly to Job. The theology underneath is genuine: when you return to the Almighty, God doesn't just forgive. He rebuilds. The restoration isn't cosmetic. It's structural. You don't get a patch job. You get reconstruction.
The 'built up' uses the Hebrew for building a house — the same verb used for God building Eve from Adam's rib (Genesis 2:22). The rebuilding is creative, intentional, life-generating. God doesn't restore you to your previous state. He builds you into something new. The reconstruction produces more than the original.
The 'put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles' extends the promise beyond the individual: your household gets cleansed too. The returning doesn't just purify your heart. It purifies your home. The iniquity that infected your dwelling places — your family, your daily life, your domestic rhythms — gets removed to a great distance. The cleansing is environmental, not just personal.
Eliphaz is wrong that Job needs to repent. But the principle he states is right: returning to God produces rebuilding. The person who turns back toward the Almighty gets reconstructed, and the reconstruction extends to everything connected to them. The returning and the rebuilding are cause and effect.
What would God rebuild in your life if you returned to Him — fully, honestly, without reservation? And what iniquity would be removed far from your home?
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust,.... Have such plenty of it, as not to be counted:
and the gold of Ophir as the…
If thou return to the Almighty - Assuming that he was an impenitent sinner, and wholly unreconciled to him. Thou shalt…
Methinks I can almost forgive Eliphaz his hard censures of Job, which we had in the beginning of the chapter, though…
built up i. e. probably rebuilt, or, restored.
thou shalt put away Or, if thou put away. The words take up "if thou…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture