strength · noun, common masculine singular absolute
hear
יִשְׁמַ֥עyish.Ma'
H8085
to hear intelligently (often with implication of attent… · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
vanity
שָׁ֭וְאSha.v'
H7723
evil (as destructive) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
Almighty
וְ֝שַׁדַּ֗יve.sha.Dai
H7706
the Almighty · conjunction + proper noun, a title
regard
יְשׁוּרֶֽנָּהye.shu.Re.nah
H7789
to spy out · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine 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
Proverbs 15:29 The LORD is far from the wicked: but he heareth the prayer of the righteous.
Isaiah 1:15 And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of…
Jeremiah 11:11 Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto m…
James 4:3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
Proverbs 15:8 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.
Job 22:22-27 Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart.
Job 27:8-9 For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul?
Job 30:20 I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me not.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 35:9-13
Elihu here returns an answer to another word that Job had said, which, he thought, reflected much upon the justice and goodness of God, and therefore ought not to pass without a remark. Observe,
I. What it was that Job complained of; it was this, That God did not regard the cries of the oppressed against their oppressors (Job 35:9): "By reason of the multitude of oppressions, the many hardships which proud tyrants put upon poor people and the barbarous usage they give them, they make the oppressed to cry; but it is to no purpose: God does not appear to right them. They cry out, they cry on still, by reason of the arm of the mighty, which lies heavily upon them." This seems to refer to those…
vanity--that is, cries uttered in an unhumbled spirit, Job 35:12, which applies in some degree to Job's cries; still more to those of the wicked (Job 27:9; Pro 15:29).
Adam Clarke on Job 35:13
Surely God will not hear vanity - He will not attend to such vain cries; they cry from their oppressions, but they cry not to God.
John Gill on Job 35:13
Surely God will not hear vanity,.... Or "a lie" (z), than which nothing is more an abomination to him; if men come to him with a lie in their mouths, they cannot expect to be heard by him; he is only nigh to those who call upon him in truth: or that which is "rash" (a); which is rashly uttered, and in a passionate wrathful manner, savouring of a revengeful spirit, too often the case of those that cry under oppression; see Ecclesiastes 5:2; or vain and empty prayers, a speech of vanity, as Aben Ezra; which as to the matter of them are about vain and empty things; only for outward mercies, worldly goods; and not for spiritual mercies, or such things as are according to the will of God; but wha…
"God can not see foolish vanities. He can not help those who ask him, and who do not cry in tribulation to obtain eternal lesbians. It is to enjoy these goods that they are distinguished from animals without reason, and that they have received more wisdom than the birds of the sky. They moan, on the contrary, because they do not find happiness in the iniquity of this world.
For God will not hear without reason, and the Almighty will behold the causes of men one by one. We must observe that two points are stated: both that He does not hear without reason him, who cries to Him, and yet regards his sufferings; and pretends not to hear his cry, and still is not ignorant what each one suffers. Let no one, then, who is not speedily heard, believe that he is not cared for by God's providence. For our desires are often heard, because they are not speedily granted: and that, which we wish to be soon fulfilled, is the better prospered by the very delay. Our prayer is frequently made good, the more it is deferred; and when our request is, in appearance, neglected, our wishes are more fully carried out in the depth of our thoughts. As the seeds of harvest are firmly compressed by frost, and spring up in greater number, to bear produce, the slower they come forth to the surface. Our desires, therefore, are deferred, in order that they may make progress; they make progress, in order to gain strength for that which they are about to enjoy: they are exercised in the contest, in order that greater rewards may be heaped on them, in recompense. The labour of the contest is protracted, in order that the crown of victory may become greater. When the Lord, then, does not speedily hear His own people, He draws them to Himself, just as He is believed to repel them. For He is, in truth, our spiritual Physician, and cuts out the infection of vices, whose existence within us He utterly reprobates. He extracts the poison of corruption with the knife of tribulation; and the more He pretends not to hear the cries of His patient, the more is He providing for the ending of his sickness. For hence the Prophet exclaims, O my God, I will cry through the day, and Thou wilt not hear; and in the night, and not to my folly. [Ps. 22, 2] As if He were saying, It tends not to my folly, that Thou dost not hear me, when I cry to Thee, day and night, without ceasing; because Thou trainest me the more in heavenly wisdom, by seeming, as it were, to desert me in my temporal affliction. Hence also he says, A helper opportunities, in tribulation. [Ps. 9, 9] Intending to speak of tribulations, he first mentioned opportunities; because we are frequently bruised by tribulation, and yet it is not a fit season for our being assisted according to our desire for deliverance. Let it…
Dictionary and topics
Prayer, Answers To · Denied to those who: Are proud — Denied to those who: Are proud
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Keil & Delitzsch on Job 35:9-13
9 By reason of the multitude of oppressions they raise a cry,
They call for help by reason of the arm of the great,
10 But none saith: Where is Eloah my Creator,
Who giveth songs of praise in the night,
11 Who teacheth us by the beasts of the earth,
And maketh us wise by the fowls of heaven?
12 Then they cry, yet He answereth not,
Because of the pride of evil men.
13 Vanity alone God heareth not,
And the Almighty observeth it not.
In Job 35:9 the accentuation of מרוב with Dech, according to which Dachselt interprets: prae multitudine (oppressionum) oppressi clamabunt, is erroneous; it is to be written מרב, as everywhere else, and this (according to Codd. and the editions of Jablonski, Majus,…
Elihu attempted to answer his own question (35:2), but his answer did not add to what Zophar (11:8-9), Eliphaz (22:12), Bildad (25:5-6), and Job (9:8-10) had already said. Elihu failed to recognize that all sin wrongs God (Gen 39:9; Matt 25:41-46; cp. Prov 19:17).
Rashi on Job 35:13
Indeed, God will not hear vanity immediately.
neither will the Almighty see it to avenge it immediately, but He is longsuffering.