Bible Strands
Job 35:13
Surely God does not listen to empty pleas, and the Almighty does not take note of it.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Elihu addresses Job in a dialogue where he rebukes Job’s complaints of divine neglect. He speaks at the precise moment Job claims God ignores his cries, framing the exchange as a direct counter to Job’s assumption of innocence.
The words — The Hebrew שָׁוְא (sha.v') denotes "emptiness" or "vanity," characterizing the pleas God refuses. The verb יְשׁוּרֶנָּה (ye.shu.re.nah) literally means "He observes it," specifying the kind of divine attention God withholds.
The thread — This pattern of rejected prayer runs through Isaiah 1:15, where God hides His eyes from multiplied cries, and Proverbs 15:29, which notes the Lord’s distance from the wicked. Jeremiah 11:11 also appears in the supplied context, linking empty appeals to impending judgment.
Why it lands — The text first states that God ignores hollow cries before any interpreter infers a moral condition behind them. It requires the reader to examine the substance of their petitions rather than assuming volume or frequency guarantees a response.
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
Surely God will not hear vanity, neither will the Almighty regard it.
Cross-references
- Proverbs 15:29 The LORD is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the righteous.
- Isaiah 1:15 When 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.
- Jeremiah 11:11 Therefore 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.
- James 4:3 And when you do ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may squander it on your pleasures.
- Proverbs 15:8 The sacrifice of the wicked is detestable to the LORD, but the prayer of the upright is His delight.
- Job 22:22 Receive instruction from His mouth, and lay up His words in your heart.
- Job 27:8 For what is the hope of the godless when he is cut off, when God takes away his life?
- Job 30:20 I cry out to You for help, but You do not answer; when I stand up, You merely look at me.
- Psalms 102:17 He will turn toward the prayer of the destitute; He will not despise their prayer.
- Proverbs 28:9 Whoever turns his ear away from hearing the law, even his prayer is detestable.