Job 35:12

12 There they cry out, but he does not answer, because of the pride of evildoers.

Job 35:12 Meaning and Commentary

Job 35:12

There they cry
As brutes do, and as in, ( Job 35:9 ) ; by reason of their oppressions, but not under a due sense of the hand of God upon them, nor of his being their only helper, and saviour, and deliverer;

but none giveth answer;
to them, either God or men, and they lie groaning and howling under their oppression;

because of the pride of evil men;
this is either to be connected with "they cry", and then the sense is, that they cry by reason of the oppressions of wicked men, who, through the pride of their hearts, and to show their superior power and authority, persecute and distress them, ( Psalms 10:2 ) . And it is because of this they cry out, being distressed by them, and not through any sense of sin they have committed, as the reason of God's suffering them to be thus oppressed: or "with none give answer"; God gives them no answer to their cry, because pride is not withdrawn from them, which is one end he has in afflicting men; because they are not humbled under the mighty hand of God, and are not brought to a sense of sin and humiliation for it, and acknowledgment of it. And another reason follows:

Job 35:12 In-Context

10 But no one says, "Where is God my Maker, who gives strength in the night,
11 who teaches us more than the animals of the earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of the air?'
12 There they cry out, but he does not answer, because of the pride of evildoers.
13 Surely God does not hear an empty cry, nor does the Almighty regard it.
14 How much less when you say that you do not see him, that the case is before him, and you are waiting for him!
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.