He delivers the afflicted by their affliction and opens their ear by adversity.
English Standard Version (ESV)
This verse isn't just saying God helps people after they suffer; it reveals He often uses the suffering itself as the very means of their deliverance and spiritual awakening. The affliction isn't just a problem to be solved, but the tool God employs to truly "open their ears" to His Word and His will.
He delivers the afflicted by their affliction and opens their ear by adversity.
English Standard Version (ESV)
Elihu is expounding on God's use of suffering, arguing it's not merely punishment but a means of spiritual discipline and deliverance. He's building towards an exhortation for Job to open his heart to God's correction, rather than resisting it, so that affliction itself can become the pathway to restoration and deeper understanding of God's ways.
When life hits hard, we often pray for escape. But what if God's plan involves working within the struggle, not just ending it?
Elihu introduces a profound idea here: God doesn't just rescue us from our afflictions; He often uses the affliction itself as the very tool for our deliverance.
A Divine Purpose in Pain
Think of it like a surgeon using a scalpel. The tool itself causes pain and cuts, but its ultimate purpose is healing. Similarly, God can use trials to:
When times get tough, do we truly hear God, or just wish the noise would stop? Adversity has a unique way of getting our attention.
Elihu links suffering directly to our ability to hear and understand God. The 'opening of ears' isn't just about hearing sounds; it's about comprehension and responsiveness to God's truth.
Listening Through the Storm
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In times of ease, it's easy to become deaf to God's gentle nudges or His clear Word. Adversity cuts through the noise of life and:
Understand the original words
ani · Hebrew Noun
A state of poverty, oppression, or suffering. Biblically, it is often the condition of those whom God eventually vindicates or uses to demonstrate His grace.
lachats · Hebrew Noun
Hardship, distress, or trouble. In the context of divine discipline, God uses adversity as a tool to refine His people and turn their hearts toward Him.
This verse echoes the idea that affliction can serve a corrective purpose, leading one to 'hear' and obey God's statutes, similar to how Job 36:15 speaks of affliction opening ears.
Hebrews 12:11This passage directly states that 'all discipline, for the moment is not joyful but sorrowful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it,' highlighting the redemptive purpose of hardship mentioned in Job 36:15.
Proverbs 1:23This verse offers a parallel promise from God to 'turn' His correction to the listeners, so they might 'hear' His words, mirroring the 'opening of the ears' that Job 36:15 describes happening through adversity.
John 15:2Jesus speaks of pruning the branches so they might bear more fruit. This powerful metaphor illustrates how God's 'cutting back' through affliction, as seen in Job 36:15, is ultimately for a greater purpose of spiritual fruitfulness and delivery.
cambridgeJob 36:15: "He delivereth the poor in his affliction, and openeth their ears in oppression."
15 . The verse goes back to the great general principle of the use of affliction in God’s hand ( Job 36:8 seq .), in order to connect with it the case of Job, and to found an exhortation to him upon it ( Job 36:16 seq .). The word in affliction, in oppression, might mean through affliction, &c.
ellicottJob 36:15: "He delivereth the poor in his affliction, and openeth their ears in oppression."
(15) He delivereth the poor in his affliction. —The point of Elihu’s discourse is rather that He delivereth the afflicted by his affliction; He makes use of the very affliction to deliver him by it as a means, “and openeth their ears by oppression.”
This verse isn't just saying God helps people after they suffer; it reveals He often uses the suffering itself as the very means of their deliverance and spiritual awakening. The affliction isn't just a problem to be solved, but the tool God employs to truly "open their ears" to His Word and His will.
Elihu is expounding on God's use of suffering, arguing it's not merely punishment but a means of spiritual discipline and deliverance. He's building towards an exhortation for Job to open his heart to God's correction, rather than resisting it, so that affliction itself can become the pathway to restoration and deeper understanding of God's ways.
Elihu is expounding on God's use of suffering, arguing it's not merely punishment but a means of spiritual discipline and deliverance. He's building towards an exhortation for Job to open his heart to God's correction, rather than resisting it, so that affliction itself can become the pathway to restoration and deeper understanding of God's ways.
"He delivers the afflicted by their affliction and opens their ear by adversity." — This verse isn't just saying God helps people after they suffer; it reveals He often uses the suffering itself as the very means of their deliverance and spiritual awakening. The affliction isn't…
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Last reviewed October 2026