purify · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
hands
כַּפֶּֽיךָka.Pei.kha
H3709
the hollow hand or palm (so of the paw of an animal · noun, common feminine dual construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Job 42:7-8 And it was so, that after the LORD had spoken these words unto Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee,…
James 5:15-16 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
Genesis 18:26-32 And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.
Psalms 18:20 The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.
Acts 27:24 Saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Cæsar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee.
Malachi 1:9 And now, I pray you, beseech God that he will be gracious unto us: this hath been by your means: will he regard your persons? saith the LORD…
Psalms 24:4 He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.
Matthew 17:19-20 Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 22:21–end
Methinks I can almost forgive Eliphaz his hard censures of Job, which we had in the beginning of the chapter, though they were very unjust and unkind, for this good counsel and encouragement which he gives him in these verses with which he closes his discourse, and than which nothing could be better said, nor more to the purpose. Though he thought him a bad man, yet he saw reason to have hopes concerning him, that, for all this, he would be both pious and prosperous. But it is strange that out of the same mouth, and almost in the same breath, both sweet waters and bitter should proceed. Good men, though they may perhaps be put into a heat, yet sometimes will talk themselves into a better tem…
island--that is, "dwelling." But the Hebrew expresses the negative (Sa1 4:21); translate "Thus He (God) shall deliver him who was not guiltless," namely, one, who like Job himself on conversion shall be saved, but not because he was, as Job so constantly affirms of himself, guiltless, but because he humbles himself (Job 22:29); an oblique attack on Job, even to the last.
and it--Rather, "he (the one not heretofore guiltless) shall be delivered through the purity (acquired since conversion) of thy hands"; by thy intercession (as Gen 18:26, &c.). [MAURER]. The irony is strikingly exhibited in Eliphaz unconsciously uttering words which exactly answer to what happened at last: he and the other…
He shall deliver the island of the innocent,.... But where is there such an island, an island of innocent persons? it seems to be better rendered by others, "the innocent shall deliver the island" (s): good men are sometimes, by their counsel and advice, and especially by their prayers, the means of delivering an island or country from ruin and destruction: but the word rendered "island" is a negative particle, as in 1 Samuel 4:21; and signifies "not"; and so in the Targum; which is
"a man that is not innocent shall be delivered:''
in like manner Jarchi interprets it, and so do Noldius (t) and others (u); and the sense is, that Job, for he is the person spoken of, as appears from the follo…
The Church Fathers
"Deliver the innocent, and the purity of your hands shall be your salvation; Does not cease doing good works, for God deals with our actions.
The innocent shall be saved, but he shall be saved by the cleanness of his hands. Which same sentence now if it be delivered touching the recompense of the kingdom of heaven, is supported by truth, in that whereas it is written concerning God, Who rendereth to every man according to his deeds, that man in the Last Inquest the justice of the Judge Eternal saveth, whom here His pitifulness sets free from impure deeds. But if a man is to this purport supposed to be here saved by the cleanness of his own hands, that by his own powers he should be made innocent, assuredly it is an error; for if Grace above do not prevent him when faulty, assuredly it will never find anyone faultless to recompense without fault. Whence it is said by the truth-telling voice of Moses; And no man of himself is innocent in Thy sight. And so heavenly pity first works something in ourselves without the help of ourselves, that, our own free will following it up as well, the good which we now desire, it may do along with ourselves; yet the good coming by grace bestowed, in the Last Judgment, He so rewards in ourselves, as if it had proceeded only from ourselves. For whereas the Goodness of God prevents us to make us innocent, Paul says, But by the grace of God I am what I am. And whereas our free will follows that grace, he adds, And His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain, but I laboured more abundantly than they all. Who whereas he saw that he was nothing of himself, says, Yet not I, and yet forasmuch as he saw that he was something in union with grace, he added, but the grace of God with me. For he would not have said, with me, if together with preventing grace he had not had free will following it up. Therefore in order to shew that he was nothing without grace, he says, Yet not I, but that he might shew that along with grace he had worked by free will, he added, but the grace of God with me. Thus 'the innocent man shall be saved by the cleanness of his hands,' in that he who is here prevented by the gift, that he may be made innocent, when he is brought to judgment, is rewarded of merit. All which things, as was before said, Eliphaz though he delivered rightly, yet to whom he was delivering them he knew not; because one better than himself it was not his business to teach, but to hear. All which particulars however agree in a figure with the promises of heretics, who…
26 For then thou shalt delight thyself in the Almighty,
And lift up they countenance to Eloah;
27 If thou prayest to Him, He will hear thee,
And thou shalt pay thy vows.
28 And thou devisest a plan, and it shall be established to thee,
And light shineth upon thy ways.
29 If they are cast down, thou sayest, "Arise!"
And him that hath low eyes He saveth.
30 He shall rescue him who is not guiltless,
And he is rescued by the purity of thy hands.
כּי־אז might also be translated "then indeed" (vid., on Job 11:15), as an emphatic resumption of the promissory והיה (tum erit), Job 22:25; but what follows is really the confirmation of the promise that God will be to him a rich recompense for the earth…
This difficult text probably conveys the effectiveness of a righteous man’s prayer. The principle (Pss 34:15, 17; 145:18; Prov 15:8, 29; Jas 5:16) is illustrated throughout Scripture (see, e.g., Gen 18:23-32; 19:29; 20:7, 17; 32:28; Exod 9:28-32; 17:11; 32:10-14; Rom 5:19).
Rashi on Job 22:30
He shall deliver one who is not innocent Heb. אי נקי, synonymous with אין נקִי, not innocent, like (I Sam. 4:21), “Ichabod (איכבוד),” meaning, there is no glory (אין כבוד). And so (Prov. 31:4), “neither is drunkenness for rulers (אי שכר),” there is no drunkenness (אין שכר). It does not befit them to become intoxicated. Menachem joined the three into one group (Machbereth Menachem p. 22). Although they are two words (?), they explain them thus. And that one who is not innocent will be delivered because of the purity of your hands. So I heard. I heard another version that was being said in the name of Rabbi Jacob: This is an expression of a man who lives in pain and sighing, and the “yud” is s…
