Job 35:9
in Job 35Men cry out under great oppression; they plead for relief from the arm of the mighty.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
By reason of the multitude of oppressions they cry out; They cry for help by reason of the arm of the mighty.
KJV
By reason of the multitude of oppressions they make the oppressed to cry: they cry out by reason of the arm of the mighty.
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This verse in Job 35
Commentary
9 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
By reason of the multitude of oppressions they make the oppressed to cry - It is not quite easy to see the connection which this verse has with what goes before, or its bearing on the argument of Elihu. It seems however, to refer to the “oppressed in general,” and to the fact, to which Job had himself adverted Job 24:12, that people are borne down by oppression and that God does not interpose to save them.
This site's exposition
Men cry out under great oppression
on Job 35:9-11
Elihu names a real evil, “Men cry out under great oppression”, and Barnes reads this as the honest half of his argument. Yet no one asks after “God my Maker, who gives us songs in the night”. Gill takes the songs as mercies given while the trouble continues.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
Oppressed men cry to God against their oppressors from this fact. Some crush them deceitfully by calumny, and he speaks about these, "They will cry out because of the great number of their calumniators," those who have been crushed so will cry to God. Some …
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistMorals on the Book of Job, Book XXVI · Written before 604.
proposed
They will cry out, by reason of the multitude of oppressors, and will wail on account of the force of the arm of tyrants. We can rightly term all the ungodly 'oppressors,' not those only, who spoil our outward goods, but those, also, who endeavour by their wicked habits, and by the example of their reprobate life, to scatter our inward treasures. For those go about to attack the things, which are without us, but these seek to prey on us within. The one cease not to rage with love for our goods, the other with hatred of our virtues.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Is there a righteous God, and can it be that he should so slowly hear, so slowly see? How Elihu solves the difficulty. If the cries of the oppressed be not heard, the fault is not in God; he is ready to hear and help them.
); for, if he got nothing by his religion, God was more beholden to him than he was to God. But, though there might be some colour for it, yet it was not fair to charge these words upon Job, when he himself had made them the wicked words of prospering sinners ( ch. xxi.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation
By reason of the multitude of oppressions, they make the oppressed to cry,.... Which is either an illustration by an instance of what is before said, that wickedness hurts men, as particularly oppression does, which makes then cry; or this refers to something new, to another complaint of Job, or an undue expression of his. Elihu undertakes to answer; that men cry unto God, as he himself had, but are not heard and answered; the place or places referred to may be Job 24:
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
(Ec 4:1.) Elihu states in Job's words (Job 24. 20) the difficulty; the "cries" of "the oppressed" not being heard might lead man to think that wrongs are not punished by Him.
By reason of the multitude - Or rather, “From among the multitude” the oppressed clamor, יזעיקו yaziku: they shout, ישועו yeshavveu, because of the mighty. The wicked rich oppress the wicked poor; these cry aloud because of their oppressors; but they have no relief, because they call not upon God.
The words behind it
6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מֵ֭רֹב | mero | from a multitude of | H7230 → | 149 times |
| עֲשׁוּקִ֣ים | ʾashukim | oppression<s> | H6217 → | |
| יַזְעִ֑יקוּ | yaziku | people cry out | H2199 → | |
| יְשַׁוְּע֖וּ | yeshaveu | they cry for help | H7768 → | 21 times |
| מִזְּר֣וֹעַ | mizeroa' | from [the] arm of | H2220 → | 91 times |
| רַבִּֽים׃ | rabim | great [people] | H7227 → | 454 times |
מֵ֭רֹבfrom a multitude of
meroH7230 →149 times
עֲשׁוּקִ֣יםoppression<s>
ʾashukimH6217 →
יַזְעִ֑יקוּpeople cry out
yazikuH2199 →
יְשַׁוְּע֖וּthey cry for help
yeshaveuH7768 →21 times
מִזְּר֣וֹעַfrom [the] arm of
mizeroa'H2220 →91 times
רַבִּֽים׃great [people]
rabimH7227 →454 times
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
Exodus 2:23After 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.
it leads to
- 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.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Genesis 18:20–21
Then the LORD said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great. Because their sin is so grievous,
- Exodus 3:7–9
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.
- Deuteronomy 26:6–7
But the Egyptians mistreated us and afflicted us, putting us to hard labor.
- Acts 7:30
After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai.
- James 5:4
Through
Psalms 43:2For You are the God of my refuge. Why have You rejected me? Why must I walk in sorrow because of the enemy’s oppression?
it leads to
- Psalms 42:9
I say to God my Rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why must I walk in sorrow because of the enemy’s oppression?”
- Psalms 28:7
The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped. Therefore my heart rejoices, and I give thanks to Him with my song.
- Psalms 42:9
Through
Job 34:28They caused the cry of the poor to come before Him, and He heard the outcry of the afflicted.
it leads to
- 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.
- Exodus 3:7
About Job
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Job; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XXVI; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.