Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 35:12

There they cry, but none giveth answer, because of the pride of evil men.

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).

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

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!

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

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 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.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

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.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

12. Thererather, “Then”(when none humbly casts himself on God, Job35:10). They cry proudly against God, rather than humblyto God. So, as the design of affliction is to humble thesufferer, there can be no answer until “pride” gives placeto humble, penitent prayer (Psa 10:4;Jer 13:17).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

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, Ps 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:

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

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.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Job 35:12. There they cry, &c. There they may cry aloud: but there is no deliverance from the pride of evil men. Heath, after Le Clerc.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

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, Joh 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.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

evil. Heb ra’a’. App-44.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

There: Psa 18:41, Pro 1:28, Joh 9:31

because: Psa 73:6-8, Psa 123:3, Psa 123:4, Isa 14:14-17

Reciprocal: Job 27:9 – Will God Jam 4:3 – and

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

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.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

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

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

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes