For thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought, and stripped the naked of their clothing.
The verse belongs to the extended debate between Job and his three friends concerning his afflictions and the cause and object of human suffering, a debate that spans Job 4-31 and proceeds through three rounds of speeches. Within that debate it stands in Eliphaz's third speech, in which he turns to direct accusation of Job.
What is recorded there is Eliphaz's false charge that Job had taken a pledge from his brother or relatives for nothing and had stripped clothing from the naked and poor, an unreliable misrepresentation rather than a true account of Job's conduct. That it stands in inspired Scripture establishes that Eliphaz truly spoke these words against Job, not that what he asserted was true. The charge was false in Job's case, for God afterward declared that Eliphaz and his companions had not spoken truthfully about Job, for Job's own account of rescuing the poor, helping the fatherless, and bringing joy to widows contradicts it, and for Job knew his own integrity and did not charge God foolishly for his affliction.
Like the rest of what the friends said, the accusation reflects the generally true principle that evil is ultimately punished, yet it was misapplied to Job, who was upright though afflicted while God was working out what would glorify Himself and bring comfort and blessing. The conduct described, taking a pledge from a brother without cause and depriving the naked of clothing, is injustice and hardness toward people in need and an example of the merciless conduct associated with the pursuit of riches.
The verse belongs to the extended debate between Job and his three friends concerning his afflictions and the cause and object of human suffering, a debate that spans Job 4-31 and proceeds through three rounds of speeches. Within that debate it stands in Eliphaz's third speech, in which he turns to direct accusation of Job.
What is recorded there is Eliphaz's false charge that Job had taken a pledge from his brother or relatives for nothing and had stripped clothing from the naked and poor, an unreliable misrepresentation rather than a true account of Job's conduct. That it stands in inspired Scripture establishes that Eliphaz truly spoke these words against Job, not that what he asserted was true. The charge was false in Job's case, for God afterward declared that Eliphaz and his companions had not spoken truthfully about Job, for Job's own account of rescuing the poor, helping the fatherless, and bringing joy to widows contradicts it, and for Job knew his own integrity and did not charge God foolishly for his affliction.
Like the rest of what the friends said, the accusation reflects the generally true principle that evil is ultimately punished, yet it was misapplied to Job, who was upright though afflicted while God was working out what would glorify Himself and bring comfort and blessing. The conduct described, taking a pledge from a brother without cause and depriving the naked of clothing, is injustice and hardness toward people in need and an example of the merciless conduct associated with the pursuit of riches.