Surely God does not listen to empty pleas, and the Almighty does not take note of it.
Parallel translations
- WEB Surely God will not hear an empty cry, neither will the Almighty regard it.
- KJV Surely God will not hear vanity, neither will the Almighty regard it.
- NKJV Surely God will not listen to empty talk, Nor will the Almighty regard it.
- NASB “God certainly will not listen to an empty cry, Nor will the Almighty regard it.
- NLT But it is wrong to say God doesn’t listen, to say the Almighty isn’t concerned.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Elihu declares that God will not heed an empty cry, nor will the Almighty regard it. God answers genuine, humble prayer, not hollow complaint.
Overview
Building on the prior verse, Elihu states that God does not listen to vain, insincere cries. The issue is the heart behind the prayer, not God's compassion, for elsewhere He hears the afflicted (Ps. 34:17). This calls for prayer offered in faith and humility, the kind of access believers now have boldly through Jesus Christ our great High Priest (Heb. 4:16).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Prov 15:29The LORD is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the righteous.
- Jas 4:3And when you do ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may squander it on your pleasures.
- Isa 1:15When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you multiply your prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.
- Jer 11:11Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘I am about to bring upon them a disaster that they cannot escape. They will cry out to Me, but I will not listen to them.
- Prov 15:8The sacrifice of the wicked is detestable to the LORD, but the prayer of the upright is His delight.
- Job 22:22–27Receive instruction from His mouth, and lay up His words in your heart.
- Amos 5:22Even though you offer Me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; for your peace offerings of fattened cattle I will have no regard.
- Hos 8:2–3Israel cries out to Me, “O our God, we know You!”
- Hos 7:14They do not cry out to Me from their hearts when they wail upon their beds. They slash themselves for grain and new wine, but turn away from Me.
- Ps 102:17He will turn toward the prayer of the destitute; He will not despise their prayer.
- Matt 20:21–22“What do you want?” He inquired. She answered, “Declare that in Your kingdom one of these two sons of mine may sit at Your right hand, and the other at Your left.”
- Matt 6:7And when you pray, do not babble on like pagans, for they think that by their many words they will be heard.
- Prov 28:9Whoever turns his ear away from hearing the law, even his prayer is detestable.
- Eccl 5:1–3Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Draw near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong.
- Job 27:8–9For what is the hope of the godless when he is cut off, when God takes away his life?
- Job 30:20I cry out to You for help, but You do not answer; when I stand up, You merely look at me.
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Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 35:13 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.