Job 27:9
in Job 27Will God hear his cry when distress comes upon him?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Will God hear his cry, When trouble cometh upon him?
KJV
Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him?
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This verse in Job 27
Commentary
8 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him? - Coverdale has rendered this Job 27:8-9 so as to make excellent sense, though not strictly in accordance with the original. “What hope hath the hypocrite though he have great good, and though God give him riches after his heart’s desire? Doth God hear him the sooner, when he crieth unto him in his necessity?” The object of the verse is to show the miserable condition of a wicked man or a hypocrite.
This site's exposition
May my enemy be like the wicked
on Job 27:7-10
Job asks the friends' own question, what "the hope of the godless" is "when he is cut off, when God takes away his life". Verses 9 and 10 press toward prayer, since the godless man cries out only in distress while Job has called on God through the book.
This site's exposition
Will God hear his cry
The godless man of verse 8 turns to God only when distress comes. Henry says those who slighted God in prosperity, or prayed coldly, will pray earnestly in trouble. Verse 10 asks whether such prayer lasts.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
What hope, he says, does the impious have, even though he has lived so far? With what sort of assurance does he expect any salvation from God like that by which I trust to be saved? How will he confidently invoke God, after falling into …
The Medieval Church1 voice
He shows as a consequence that they are deprived of hope in two ways. One of these is the hope the just have that God hears their prayer in time of need, but he excludes this by saying, "Will God hear his cry when anguish …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
The judgment of the great day will come; fearfulness will surprise the hypocrites, Isa. xxxiii. (2.) Then he will cry to God, will pray, and pray earnestly. Those who in prosperity slighted God, either prayed not at all or were cold and careless in prayer, when trouble comes will make their application to him and cry as men in earnest.
Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh, upon him?
He shows the miserable end of wicked people, notwithstanding their long prosperity, and the curse that attends them and is entailed upon their families,
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
Or will he delight with the Almighty The double interrogative is like all double interrogatives.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הַֽ֭צַעֲקָתוֹ | hatzaakato | ¿ cry his | H6818 → | 21 times |
| יִשְׁמַ֥ע׀ | yishma' | will he hear | H8085 → | 1159 times |
| אֵ֑ל | ʾel | God | H410 → | 241 times |
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | if | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| תָב֖וֹא | tavo' | it will come | H935 → | 2568 times |
| עָלָ֣יו | ʾalav | on him | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| צָרָֽה׃ | tzarah | distress | H6869 → |
הַֽ֭צַעֲקָתוֹ¿ cry his
hatzaakatoH6818 →21 times
יִשְׁמַ֥ע׀will he hear
yishma'H8085 →1159 times
אֵ֑לGod
ʾelH410 →241 times
כִּֽי־if
ki-H3588 →4482 times
תָב֖וֹאit will come
tavo'H935 →2568 times
עָלָ֣יוon him
ʾalavH5921 →5755 times
צָרָֽה׃distress
tzarahH6869 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Isaiah 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.
it leads to
- Proverbs 1:28
Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; they will earnestly seek me, but will not find me.
Reached by 4 separate paths from here.
- Micah 3:4
Then they will cry out to the LORD, but He will not answer them. At that time He will hide His face from them because of the evil they have done.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Zechariah 7:13
And just as I had called and they would not listen, so when they called I would not listen, says the LORD of Hosts.
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Isaiah 59:2–3
But your iniquities have built barriers between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He does not hear.
- Jeremiah 7:8–10
But look, you keep trusting in deceptive words to no avail.
- Proverbs 1:28
Through
Proverbs 1:28Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; they will earnestly seek me, but will not find me.
it leads to
- 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.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 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.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Jeremiah 11:11
Through
Micah 3:4Then they will cry out to the LORD, but He will not answer them. At that time He will hide His face from them because of the evil they have done.
it leads to
- Ezekiel 8:18
Therefore I will respond with wrath. I will not look on them with pity, nor will I spare them. Although they shout loudly in My ears, I will not listen to them.”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Ezekiel 8:18
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Job
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Job; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Olympiodorus of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON JOB 27:8-10 and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.