Surely God will not hear vanity, neither will the Almighty regard it.
Ver. 13. Surely God will not hear vanity] Prayer without faith is but an empty ring, a tinkling cymbal. Neque enim omnes qui citharam habent, sunt citharaedi, Every sound is not music, neither is every complaint and outcry of men in extremity an effectual prayer. Those in Hosea, when pined almost, howled as dogs, growled as swine, bellowed as bulls, screeched horribly as the ravens of Arabia, Hosea 7:14, but because they cried not to God with their hearts he heard them not. It is not the labour of the lips or the loudness of the voice, but the travail of the heart, and truth in the inward parts, that he regardeth, Psalms 51:6. Wilt thou not know, O vain (or empty) man, that faith without works is dead? saith St James, James 2:20; so that prayer without faith is to no purpose. Men may cry aloud in distress, and make their voices to be heard on high; they may chatter out a charm when God's chastening is upon them, yea, be with child, as it were, of a prayer, yet bring forth nothing better than wind, work no deliverance at all in the earth, Isaiah 26:16,18. God may turn them off, and justly, with, Depart, ye workers of iniquity; get you to the gods whom ye have chosen, let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation; for I will deliver you no more, Judges 10:13,14 .
Neither will the Almighty regard it] Heb. Look intently into it. It is other and better fruit of affliction that he looketh for. Whereof missing, he looketh another way, as it were, and taketh no notice of their prayers or pressures. Hence they deny, or at least doubt, the Divine providence; and are ready to let fly at God, as the Chinese whip their gods if they help them not at a call.