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Job 35:12-13
He says they shout without answer because pride drives them, and God does not attend to hollow, self-centered pleas.
Meaning in context
He says they shout without answer because pride drives them, and God does not attend to hollow, self-centered pleas.
Section 5 of 6
Pride turns cries into emptiness
He says they shout without answer because pride drives them, and God does not attend to hollow, self-centered pleas.
Movement
Suffering before the living God
Artifact
Wisdom debate and divine answer
Biblical Timeline
Patriarchs
Job context: 2000 BC - 1500 BC
Biblical Timeline
Patriarchs
Job context
Patriarchs / 2000 BC - 1500 BC
Job context is set in the patriarchs, where Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the covenant family.
Scripture Text
Thesis
He says they shout without answer because pride drives them, and God does not attend to hollow, self-centered pleas.
Verse by Verse
Crying out, yet no answer “There they cry” points back to the place or situation just described: the setting of oppression and pressure. Even though cries are raised, “none gives answer.” Elihu immediately supplies a reason: it is “because of the pride of evil men.” In his framing, arrogant wrongdoing does not only harm victims; it also shapes the whole environment so that cries become ineffective.
The kind of cry God does not receive Elihu adds a strong conclusion (“surely”): God “will not hear an empty cry.” The issue is not simply that people are suffering, but that the cry can be “empty”—hollow, lacking substance, lacking the kind of appeal that truly addresses God. He restates it in parallel: “the Almighty” will not “regard it,” reinforcing that this kind of outcry does not gain divine attention in Elihu’s reasoning.
Literary Context
These lines sit inside Elihu’s speech (Job 32–37), where he responds to Job’s repeated protest that God does not answer or treat him fairly. Just before this, Elihu describes widespread groaning under oppression and the many cries that rise from such suffering (Job 35:9–11). He then narrows in on why some cries go unanswered: not every outcry is the kind of appeal that seeks God as teacher and helper. Verses 12–13 form a brief conclusion: “they cry” is not the same as “God hears,” especially when pride and emptiness shape the cry.
Historical Context
Job is set in an early, clan-based world where powerful figures can dominate others and victims have limited recourse besides public complaint and appeal to a higher authority. The book’s poetic dialogues reflect ancient wisdom-style argument, where speakers explore what people can and cannot infer about God’s actions from human suffering. In that setting, “crying out” is a familiar social act: the oppressed call for relief, and the powerful may ignore them. Elihu uses that social reality to make a moral observation about the quality of human appeals and the kinds of power (including human arrogance) that can distort them.
Theological Significance
Questions
Keep Studying
These two lines present a gap between suffering and relief: people “cry” in a setting of oppression, yet “none gives answer” (explicit). Elihu ties the silence to “the pride of evil men” (explicit) and then states that God does not listen to an “empty” cry and does not “regard” it (explicit). The passage therefore distinguishes loud complaint from a kind of appeal that is actually received (explicit), and it treats pride as a factor that can make cries go unanswered (explicit).
Who is failing to answer in v.12. Some read “none gives answer” mainly as human inaction: the powerful ignore the victims, so no help comes. Others think Elihu is also (or especially) talking about God not answering, since v.13 immediately speaks about God not hearing (inference from the flow).
Whose pride is in view. Many take “the pride of evil men” to mean the oppressors’ arrogance—their wrongdoing creates the whole situation where cries do not get an answer. Others think Elihu may also be criticizing the sufferers’ posture: their pride makes their cries “empty,” so God does not regard them (inference connecting v.12 to v.13).
What makes a cry “empty.” Some interpret “empty” as lacking real address to God—complaint that never truly seeks him. Others emphasize motive and tone: a hollow, self-focused, or pride-shaped outburst. The text itself does not list the components; it only asserts that God does not treat this kind of cry as weighty (explicit + limited inference).
The Hebrew poetry is brief and compressed. Verse 12 can be read as describing social reality (no human rescuer answers) or as part of Elihu’s point about divine non-response. Also, the line about “pride” could grammatically point to the oppressors, the sufferers, or the whole moral environment. Finally, “empty cry” is a strong evaluation without a definition, leaving room for different reconstructions.
Elihu’s stated reasoning is that unanswered cries are not always proof of God’s weakness or indifference. Sometimes, he says, the problem is moral and spiritual: pride is present, and the “cry” is empty rather than a true appeal (explicit). The passage adds a category to the book’s debate: suffering can generate real outcries, yet not every outcry is the sort of request God “regards” (explicit).