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

But none saith, Where is God my maker, who giveth songs in the night; But the reason is, that the innocent sufferers often do not humbly seek God for succour; so to their "pride" is to be laid the

Either, 1. Vain and light persons, that have no true wisdom or solid piety in them, but are wholly addicted to vain and worldly things, rejoicing immoderately when they have them, and crying out for want of them, as here they do. Or, 2. Vain cries, which proceed not from faith or piety, but only from self-love and a natural sense of their misery; which is common to them with brute beasts. The abstract is here put for the concrete, as wickedness is oft put for wicked men, and pride for proud persons, and the like. Neither will the Almighty regard it: though God be able to help them, as this title of God implies, and though he be the Judge of the world, as the former name of God signifies, to whom therefore it belongs to right the oppressed against the oppressor, yet in this case he justly refuseth to help them.

Job 35:13 Surely God will not hear vanity, neither will the Almighty regard it.Ver. 13. Surely God will not hear vanity] Prayer without faith is but an empty ring, a tinkling cymbal. Neque enim omnes qui citharam habent, sunt citharaedi, Every sound is not music, neither is every complaint and outcry of men in extremity an effectual prayer. Those in Hosea, when pined almost, howled as dogs, growled as swine, bellowed as bulls, screeched horribly as the ravens of Arabia, Hosea 7:14, but because they cried not to God with their hearts he heard them not. It is not the labour of the lips or the loudness of the voice, but the travail of the heart, and truth in the inward parts, that he regardeth, Psalms 51:6. Wilt thou not know, O vain (or empty) man, that faith without works is dead? saith St James, James 2:20; so that prayer without faith is to no purpose. Men may cry aloud in distress, and make their voices to be heard on high; they may chatter out a charm when God’ s chastening is upon them, yea, be with child, as it were, of a prayer, yet bring forth nothing better than wind, work no deliverance at all in the earth, Isaiah 26:16-18. God may turn them off, and justly, with, Depart, ye workers of iniquity; get you to the gods whom ye have chosen, let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation; for I will deliver you no more, Judges 10:13-14. Neither will the Almighty regard it] Heb. Look intently into it. It is other and better fruit of affliction that he looketh for. Whereof missing, he looketh another way, as it were, and taketh no notice of their prayers or pressures. Hence they deny, or at least doubt, the Divine providence; and are ready to let fly at God, as the Chinese whip their gods if they help them not at a call.

(13) God will not hear vanity.—Some understand this as part of the cry in Job 35:12 : “Seeing it is all in vain, God doth not hear, neither doth the Almighty regard it.”

Verse 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.

9–15. Having laid down his principle Elihu now proceeds to clear away some anomalies which seem to support Job’s contention. There are instances where godliness does not seem to advantage men, where oppressed innocence cries in vain for redress. The reason is that the cry is merely the natural voice of suffering; it is no true devout appeal to heaven—none saith, Where is God my maker?

Surely God will not hear vanity - A vain, hollow, heartless petition.

13. Vanity — That is, a vain and empty cry, one that has no spiritual element.