Job 35:9–35:13, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Job 35:9–35:13
Elihu Says Pride Can Corrupt the Oppressed Cry
Oppression makes people cry, and Elihu still suspects the cry
By reason of the multitude of oppressions they make the oppressed to cry. They cry out by reason of the arm of the mighty. But none says, Where is God my maker, who gives songs in the night, who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the fowls of heaven?
There they cry, but none gives answer, because of the pride of evil men. Surely God will not hear vanity, neither will the Almighty regard it.
Unanswered prayer is made the petitioner's fault
Elihu can see the mighty arm. He can hear the cry. He then explains the silence as missing piety and as vanity. Pride, in this telling, contaminates the very voice of the crushed.
The unit must not be used that way among the living. An unanswered cry is not proof of a vain heart. That certainty blames victims and excuses oppressors. Job 24 already showed groans from the city that do not receive a charge-sheet from heaven on schedule. Elihu's distinct interest in pride does not give him the right to police the motives of the oppressed.
How this should shape us
When the crushed cry, do not inspect their pride before you oppose the mighty arm. Songs in the night are a gift, not a test the poor must pass in order to be heard.
Teach it back
Explain Job 35:9–35:13 in your own words. Name the speaker, the unit's place in Job, one source-controlled textual or literary observation, one uncertainty, and one harmful use the passage does not authorize.
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Job 35:9–35:13, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Job.xml, OSIS 35:9–35:13
Supports: Verse-level controls for Job's difficult Hebrew, syntax, older KJV language, textual issues, speech boundaries, and alternatives in Job 35:9–35:13.
Official NET Job PDF, exact translator, study, and textual notes attached to Job 35:9–35:13
Supports: Book-level and passage-level literary, historical, theological, and pastoral synthesis with speaker distinctions and visible uncertainty.
Enter the Bible Job course, Introductory Issues and Outline: Elihu speeches; applied to Job 35:9–35:13
Supports: Polyphony, retribution critique, justice, Job's response, divine verdict, and the book's interpretive openness.
Ausloos, 'A Matter of Justice,' OTE 36.1 (2023), pp. 151-165, divine speeches and unresolved justice question; applied to Job 35:9–35:13
Sources for This Section
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Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Job 35:9–35:13, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Job
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Job.xml, OSIS 35:9–35:13
Open the fixed Hebrew Job file ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible First Edition Notes: Job
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006; current official PDF
Supports: Verse-level controls for Job's difficult Hebrew, syntax, older KJV language, textual issues, speech boundaries, and alternatives in Job 35:9–35:13.
Exact location: Official NET Job PDF, exact translator, study, and textual notes attached to Job 35:9–35:13
Open the official NET Job PDF ↗modern scholarly book course
Job course: summary, outline, background, introductory issues, theological themes, and Bible in the world
Daniel J. Simundson and Kathryn Schifferdecker
Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, current online edition inspected 2026
Supports: Book-level and passage-level literary, historical, theological, and pastoral synthesis with speaker distinctions and visible uncertainty.
Exact location: Enter the Bible Job course, Introductory Issues and Outline: Elihu speeches; applied to Job 35:9–35:13
Open the Enter the Bible Job course ↗peer reviewed open access literary and theological article
A Matter of Justice: The Openness of the Book of Job
Hans Ausloos
Old Testament Essays 36.1, 2023
Supports: Polyphony, retribution critique, justice, Job's response, divine verdict, and the book's interpretive openness.
Exact location: Ausloos, 'A Matter of Justice,' OTE 36.1 (2023), pp. 151-165, divine speeches and unresolved justice question; applied to Job 35:9–35:13
Open Ausloos on Job and justice ↗