Job 35:12

12 There they shall cry, and God shall not hear them, for the pride of evil men. (And they shall cry for help, but God shall not hear them, because of the pride of evil people.)

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them to be thus oppressed: or "with none give answer"; God gives them no answer to their cry, because pride is not withdrawn from them, which is one end he has in afflicting men; because they are not humbled under the mighty hand of God, and are not brought to a sense of sin and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 And Job said not, Where is God, that made me, and that gave songs in the night? (And no one hath said, Where is God, who made me, and gave songs in the night, that is, hope in the darkness?)
11 And the which teacheth us above the beasts of [the] earth, and he shall teach us above the birds of (the) heaven(s). (And who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, and the birds of the air.)
12 There they shall cry, and God shall not hear them, for the pride of evil men. (And they shall cry for help, but God shall not hear them, because of the pride of evil people.)
13 For God shall not hear without cause, and Almighty God shall behold the causes of each man. (For God shall not listen to vanity, that is, to vain, or empty, things, nor shall Almighty God consider the importuning of these people.)
14 Yea, when thou sayest, He beholdeth not; be thou deemed before him, and abide thou him (wait thou for him, and be thou judged before him).
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.