Surely God will not hear vanity, neither will the Almighty regard it.
Parallel translations
- WEB Surely God will not hear an empty cry, neither will the Almighty regard it.
- BSB Surely God does not listen to empty pleas, and the Almighty does not take note of 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 heareth the prayer of the righteous.
- Jas 4:3Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
- Isa 1:15And 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 blood.
- Jer 11:11Therefore 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 me, I will not hearken unto them.
- Prov 15:8The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.
- Job 22:22–27Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart.
- Amos 5:22Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.
- Hos 8:2–3Israel shall cry unto me, My God, we know thee.
- Hos 7:14And they have not cried unto me with their heart, when they howled upon their beds: they assemble themselves for corn and wine, and they rebel against me.
- Ps 102:17He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer.
- Matt 20:21–22And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom.
- Matt 6:7But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
- Prov 28:9He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.
- Eccl 5:1–3Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil.
- Job 27:8–9For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul?
- Job 30:20I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me not.
Resources, by level
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.