Job 35:12

Job 35:12 There they cry, but none giveth answer, because of the pride of evil men.

Ver. 12. There they cry, but none giveth answer] Cry they do, but not to the true God, Jon 1:5. The Papists have their he saints and she saints, for several uses. Or, if to the true God, yet not in a due manner; not in faith, and with remorse for their misdoings. And hence it is that either they are not heard and helped; or not in mercy, but for a further mischief, and to furnish out their indictment at the last day; and on their death beds God will not come to them, or be entreated by them, Pro 1:28 Psa 18:42.

Because of the pride of evil men] i.e. Because these oppressed ones that thus cry are not so poor as proud; humbled they are, but not humble; low, but not lowly. Plectuntur, sed non flectuntur; they have lost the fruit of their afflictions, and are not a button the better for all that they have suffered.

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 35:12. There they cry — Or then, as the Hebrew particle here used often means; that is, in that time or condition of trouble; but none giveth answer — The reason that God doth not deliver them is, because, though they lie crying under their afflictions, they continue to be evil, wicked, and impenitent; proud and unhumbled for those sins, on account of which God brought these miseries upon them.

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

Because they pray not in faith, as feeling God’s mercies.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

There--rather, "Then" (when none humbly casts himself on God, Job 35:10). They cry proudly against God, rather than humbly to God. So, as the design of affliction is to humble the sufferer, there can be no answer until "pride" gives place to humble, penitent prayer (Psa 10:4; Jer 13:17).

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 12. There they cry] They bewail their calamities, but sorrow not for the cause of them; they cry against their oppressors, but they call not upon God.

Because of the pride of evil men.] Or מפני mippeney, from the face, presence, or influence, of the pride of wicked men. They cry for deliverance from the pride of wicked men; but they are not heard, because they cry not to God.

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

12. The first and last words of the verse are in connexion: “they cry because of the pride of evil men, but none giveth answer.” They remain unheard because their cry is “vanity” (Job_35:13).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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, Psa 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:

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

There they cry - They cry out in the language of complaint, but not for mercy.

Because of the pride of evil men - That is, of their own pride. The pride of men so rebellious, and so disposed to complain of God, is the reason why they do not appeal to him to sustain them and give them relief. This is still as true as it was in the time of Elihu. The pride of the heart, even in affliction, is the true reason with multitudes why they do not appeal to God, and why they do not pray. They have valued themselves on their independence of spirit. They have been accustomed to rely on their own resources. They have been unwilling to recognize their dependence on any being whatever. Even in their trials, the heart is too wicked to acknowledge God, and they would be ashamed to be known to do what they regard as so weak a thing as “to pray.” Hence, they complain in their afflictions; they linger on in their sufferings without consolation, and then die without hope. However inapplicable, therefore, this solution of the difficulty may have been to the case of Job, it is “not” inapplicable to the case of multitudes of sufferers. “Many of the afflicted have no peace or consolation in their trials - no ‘songs in the night’ - because they are too proud to pray!”

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

There, or then, as this particle is used, Psa 14:5; Ecc 3:17; Zep 1:14; in that time or condition.

The pride of evil men; either

1. Of the oppressors. So this is the reason not of the last clause, why none answereth, but of the former, why they cry; the latter clause being therefore shut up within a parenthesis, and the words thus are to be transposed, as some place them,

There they cry, because of the pride of evil men, but none giveth answer; the reason whereof followeth in the next verse. Or rather,

2. Of the oppressed persons. And so there is no need of any parenthesis or transposition. And so these words contain one reason of the words immediately foregoing, which is most natural, and easy, and usual, to wit, why none giveth answer, i.e. why God doth not answer nor regard their cries, because of their pride, &c., because they are both evil, wicked and impenitent, and proud, unhumbled for those sins for which God brought these miseries upon them, and unsubdued to the obedience of God.

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

12. There — Or, under such circumstances.

None giveth answer — He answereth not these evil men (same as in Job_35:9) because of their pride. Elihu’s imagination sees a multitude of ingrates, in the midst of whom is Job with his complaints and murmurs. To astonished Job, who repined because God refused to hear him, Elihu points out his associates, his fellow sinners and sufferers, who also prayed when trouble came: — See! “there they cry!” and leaves him to draw his own moral. Like Aug. Comte, they would sooner pray to and worship “collective man” than God, and appeal to God only as a last resource. It is instructive to see a Herbert Spencer dismiss “the religion of humanity,” held by the great sceptic, “as countenanced neither by induction nor deduction;” in all probability destined himself to be dismissed in like manner by some leading sceptic of the future.

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

There they cry. "There," smitten by calamity, they do at last cry to God. But none giveth answer. They "ask, and receive not." Why? Because of the pride of evil men. Because, i.e. , they ask proudly, not humbly; they claim relief as a right, not as a favour; they approach God in a spirit that offends him and prevents him from granting their requests.

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

Because - God doth not answer their cries, because they are both evil, wicked and impenitent, and proud, unhumbled for those sins for which God brought these miseries upon them.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Connecting Statement:

Elihu continues speaking.

they cry out

"the oppressed people cry out"

How much less will he answer you ... that you are waiting for him!

Since God will not hear the prayers of prideful, evil men, it is even less likely that he will hear Job, who is complaining against him. AT: "So he certainly will not answer you ... that you are waiting for him!" (See: Exclamations)

that your case is before him

"you have presented your case to him"

you are waiting for him

"you are waiting for him to respond"

translationWords

fool

Almighty

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

There they cry out And see that there the poor cry out because of the pride of those who oppress them, and He does not answer, for...

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.