Job 34:27

Job 34:27 Because they turned back from him, and would not consider any of his ways:

Ver. 27. Because they have turned back from him] To pursue after lying vanities, broken cisterns; which whosoever do, as they fall into two foul sins at once (such as heaven and earth have cause to be astonished at and afraid of), Jer 2:12-13, so they are miserable by their own election, Jon 2:8.

And would not consider any of his ways] Wisely consider them, as David did, Psa 119:168. All God’s laws were in his sight; and all his ways in God’s sight. This was the general cause of their destruction. The special followeth.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Job 34:27-28. Because they turned back from him — From God, whom they or their progenitors had owned; and from his laws, which God had written on their minds, Rom 2:14; and from the practice of true religion, to sin and folly. And would not consider any of his ways — So as to walk in them. Hebrew, לא השׂכילו, lo hischilu, they would not understand, or consider them wisely, so as to make a proper and wise use of their knowledge of them. They cause the cry of the poor to come to him — To God, as the following words imply, it being God’s work to hear the cry, and plead the cause, of the afflicted or oppressed. Their case is bad who have the prayers and tears of the poor against them; for these will draw down vengeance, sooner or later, on the heads of their oppressors.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The grounds of their punishment in Job 34:26. Job 34:28 states in what respect they "considered not God's ways," namely, by oppression, whereby "they caused the cry," &c.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 27. Because they turned back] This is the reason why he has dealt with them in judgment. They had departed from him in their hearts, their moral conduct, and their civil government. He is speaking of corrupt and tyrannical rulers. And they did not, would not, understand any of his ways.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(27) Because they turned back from him.—Elihu, therefore, as well as Job’s other friends, believed in the direct execution of God’s judgments.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

When he giveth quietness, who then can make trouble?.... Quietness or peace is of God; external peace to bodies of men, to communities, civil and religious, and to particular persons; quietness and contentment in outward enjoyments, peace and safety at home, and from enemies abroad; inward spiritual peace, this is of God, is in Christ, and from him; is the fruit of his righteousness, spoke by his blood, comes through faith in Christ, and is enjoyed in his ordinances, and continues as long as it is the pleasure of God to give it, and cannot be disturbed by men or devils; a national peace, when God gives it, cannot be broke in upon; nor the peace of churches, though there are always some inclined to be troublers of the Israel of God; nor the peace of particular persons, not their outward peace and quietness, when God sets an hedge of providence about them; nor their inward peace, not by all the afflictions and persecutions they meet with in the world; nor by all the temptations of Satan, and the corruptions of their own hearts. The Targum is, "who shall condemn?" and so the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions; when God acquits, absolves, and justifies men, who can condemn them? see Rom 8:33. When God pronounces the sentence of justification by the righteousness of Christ in the conscience of a sinner, it produces peace solid and substantial, and this being done, who shall condemn? or of what avail will their condemnation be? whether of the law, or of Satan, or of the world, or of themselves, of their own hearts;

and when he hideth his face, who then can behold him? whether it be done against a nation, or against a man only; whether God hides his face from a nation, as he sometimes did from the nation of Israel, because of their sins; when he would not hear their prayers, nor assist them against their enemies, nor arise for their help and deliverance out of their hands: or from his church and people, his spiritual Jacob and Israel, as when they complain, their way is hid from the Lord, and the Lord has forgotten and forsaken them; or from particular persons, as from David, Heman, and others; and who, of the Lord's people, but at one time or another are under the hidings of his face? and then there is no finding him, no looking to him with comfort and confidence; no looking into and beholding the works and ways of God, and the causes of his dealings with them; these are out of sight, his ways are in the deep, and his footsteps are not known. Some refer this to men; who will show favour to him whom God frowns upon? who will look at him in a pleasant manner, when God hides his face from him?

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Because they turned back from him - Margin, “from after him.” That is, they receded, or went away from God.

And would not consider any of his ways - They would not regard or attend to any of his commands. The word way, in the Scriptures, is often used to denote “religion.” A “way” denotes the course of life which one leads; the path in which he walks. The “ways of God” denote his course or plan, his precepts or laws; and to depart from them, or to disregard them, is only another mode of saying that a man has no religion.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

All. Protestants, "Any of." The wicked observed none of God’s commandments as they ought. He that offends in one become guilty of all, James ii. 10.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

From him; from the God, whom they or their progenitors had owned; and his laws, which God hath written in the minds of all men, Rom 2:14,15; and, it may be, from the practice of the true religion, which sometimes they professed;

Would not consider, or understand. They did not desire nor endeavour to know them, at least practically, or to any good purpose.

His ways; either,

1. God’s providential ways. They did not lay to heart any of God’s judgments inflicted upon such oppressors as themselves, which should have given them warning, but boldly persisted in the same wicked courses. Or,

2. His precepts; oft called his ways, because he hath appointed them for us to walk in. For these ways they were in a special manner obliged to consider and practise; and the next verse giveth us an instance of their backsliding from these ways.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

27. Compare Psa_28:5. From him — The margin is more exact, and teaches us that God expects close following.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Because they turned back from him (On the sin of "turning back," see 2Ki_17:15, 16 Pro_26:11 2Pe_2:22) And would not consider any of his ways. (comp. Psa_28:5 Isa_5:12) The folly and wickedness of such conduct is reproved by Solomon in the strongest terms, "Because I have called, and ye refused: I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Thou shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: for that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord: they would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their Own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them". (Pro_1:24-32)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Because they turned away from following Him Heb. אשר על-כן as in (Num. 10:31), “because (על- כן) you knew our camping in the desert.” [This is] like: because (מפני אשר) they turned away from following Him, and they brought before Him and upon Him the cry of the poor.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.