Bible Strands
Job 34:28
They caused the cry of the poor to come before Him, and He heard the outcry of the afflicted.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Elihu addresses Job and his companions, advancing his argument about divine justice immediately after condemning the previous speakers for misrepresenting God's character. He makes this declaration at the pivot point where the dialogue shifts from defending human innocence to establishing God's active oversight of human affairs.
The words — The verb לְהָבִיא (lehaVi') translates literally as "to cause to come," and the noun צַעֲקַת (tza'akat) means "outcry." These terms describe the poor and afflicted as being actively brought into God's presence rather than left unheard.
The thread — The same pattern of God receiving the cries of the oppressed appears in Exodus 3:7, where divine attention meets Egyptian bondage, and James 5:4, where unpaid laborers generate a condemning outcry. Job 35:9 reinforces this sequence by noting that oppression drives the oppressed to plead for relief.
Why it lands — The verse states that God hears the distress of the vulnerable and registers it before Him, requiring readers to reject the assumption that divine silence equals indifference. It demands that communities treat the suffering of the marginalized as a matter of divine accountability rather than human neglect.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
So that they cause the cry of the poor to come unto him, and he heareth the cry of the afflicted.
Cross-references
- James 5:4 Look, the wages you withheld from the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.
- Exodus 3:7 The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the affliction of My people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their oppressors, and I am aware of their sufferings.
- Job 35:9 Men cry out under great oppression; they plead for relief from the arm of the mighty.
- Exodus 3:9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached Me, and I have seen how severely the Egyptians are oppressing them.
- Psalms 12:5 “For the cause of the oppressed and for the groaning of the needy, I will now arise,” says the LORD. “I will bring safety to him who yearns.”
- Exodus 22:23 If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to Me in distress, I will surely hear their cry.
- Job 29:12 because I rescued the poor who cried out and the fatherless who had no helper.
- Exodus 2:23 After a long time, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned and cried out under their burden of slavery, and their cry for deliverance from bondage ascended to God.
- Job 22:9 You sent widows away empty-handed, and the strength of the fatherless was crushed.
- Job 24:12 From the city, men groan, and the souls of the wounded cry out, yet God charges no one with wrongdoing.