Albert Barnes Commentary Job 35:9

"By reason of the multitude of oppressions they cry out; They cry for help by reason of the arm of the mighty." — Job 35:9 (ASV)

By reason of the multitude of oppressions they make the oppressed to cry - It is not quite easy to see the connection this verse has with what precedes, or its bearing on Elihu's argument. It seems, however, to refer to the oppressed in general, and to the fact to which Job himself had referred (Job 24:12): that people are weighed down by oppression and God does not intervene to save them. They are allowed to remain in that state of oppression—trampled by people, crushed by the armor of a despot, and overwhelmed with poverty, sorrow, and want—and God does not intervene to rescue them. He looks on and sees all this evil, and does not step forward to deliver those who suffer in this way. This is a common situation, according to Job's view; this was his own situation, and he could not explain it. In view of this, he had used language that Elihu regarded as a severe criticism of the Almighty's government.

He undertakes, therefore, to explain the reason why people are permitted to suffer in this way, and why they are not relieved.

In the verse before us, he states the fact that multitudes do suffer in this way under the arm of oppression—for that fact could not be denied. In the following verses, he states the reason why it is so: they do not appeal to God properly, who could give songs in the night, or joy in the midst of calamities, and who could teach them about the nature of His government as intelligent beings, so that they would be able to understand it and accept it. The phrase the multitude of oppressions refers to the numerous and repeated calamities that tyrants bring upon the poor, the downtrodden, and the slave. The phrases to cry and they cry out, refer to the lamentations and sighs of those under the arm of the oppressor.

Elihu did not dispute the truth of the fact as Job stated it. That fact could not be doubted then, any more than it can be now: that many were weighed down under burdens imposed by hard-hearted masters, groaning under the government of tyrants, and that all this was seen and permitted by a holy God. This fact troubled Job—for he was one of this general class of sufferers—and Elihu proposes to explain this fact. Whether his solution is satisfactory, however, may still remain doubtful.