For your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the language of the crafty.
Parallel Translations
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For your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the language of the crafty.
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For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.
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For thine iniquity teacheth thy mouth, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.
Cross-references (13)
Passages linked to Job 15:5 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Jeremiah 9:3-5 “They bend their tongue, as their bow, for falsehood. They have grown strong in the land, but not for truth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they don’t know me,” says Yahweh. “Everyone beware of his neighbor, and don’t trust in any brother; for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor will go around like a slanderer. Friends deceive each other, and will not speak the truth. They have taught their tongue to speak lies. They weary themselves commiting iniquity.
- Psalms 50:19-20 “You give your mouth to evil. Your tongue frames deceit. You sit and speak against your brother. You slander your own mother’s son.
- Psalms 52:2-4 Your tongue plots destruction, like a sharp razor, working deceitfully. You love evil more than good, lying rather than speaking the truth. You love all devouring words, you deceitful tongue.
- Jeremiah 9:8 Their tongue is a deadly arrow. It speaks deceit. One speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in his heart, he waits to ambush him.
- Luke 6:45 The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings out that which is good, and the evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings out that which is evil, for out of the abundance of the heart, his mouth speaks.
- James 1:26 If anyone among you thinks himself to be religious while he doesn’t bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, this man’s religion is worthless.
- James 3:5-8 So the tongue is also a little member, and boasts great things. See how a small fire can spread to a large forest! And the tongue is a fire. The world of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and is set on fire by Gehenna. For every kind of animal, bird, creeping thing, and sea creature, is tamed, and has been tamed by mankind; but nobody can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
- Job 5:13 He takes the wise in their own craftiness; the counsel of the cunning is carried headlong.
- Job 9:22-24 “It is all the same. Therefore I say he destroys the blameless and the wicked. If the scourge kills suddenly, he will mock at the trial of the innocent. The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. He covers the faces of its judges. If not he, then who is it?
- Psalms 64:3 who sharpen their tongue like a sword, and aim their arrows, deadly words,
- Psalms 120:2-3 Deliver my soul, Yahweh, from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue. What will be given to you, and what will be done more to you, you deceitful tongue?
- Job 12:6 The tents of robbers prosper. Those who provoke God are secure, who carry their god in their hands.
- Mark 7:21-22 For from within, out of the hearts of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, sexual sins, murders, thefts, covetings, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Thou speakest as do the mockers and contemners of…
Thou speakest as do the mockers and contemners of God.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Job 15:5 For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and…
Job 15:5 For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.
Ver. 5. For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity] Heb. Thy crooked, wry disposition, that standeth across to God and goodness, Psa 51:5, Homo est inversus decalogus. Solomon speaketh of perverse lips, as if the upper lip stood where the nether should, Pro 4:24. And St Jude speaketh of hard speeches, uttered by ungodly sinners, Jdg 1:15, such as Job was none, whatever Eliphaz, by misinterpreting, made of him, wresting his words to a wrong sense, as Psa 54:5, and, by a spiritual unmannerliness, making the worst of what he spake; there being not anything that may not be taken with the left hand. Now, if this befell Job from his friends and those godly persons, what wonder though the like, and worse, be done to us by wicked enemies?
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Qui id quod boni est excerpunt, dicunt quod mali est.
Nihil est quin male narrando possit depravarier. - (Terent. Phorm.)
And thou choosest the tongue of the crafty] Than the which nothing is a greater enemy to piety, saith an interpreter. Politicians formalize and enervate the power of truth, till at length they leave us a heartless and sapless religion, saith another. Such a one Eliphaz makes Job to be: q.d. Thou wast wont to speak prayer, but now thou speakest policy, yea, Thou choosest to do it, thou lovest evil more than good, and lying rather than to speak right, Psa 52:3. Thou hast as many turnings and windings in thy mind as the serpent hath in his body (so the Hebrew word seemeth to signify, Gen 3:1). Thus he heighteneth his charge, and layeth on yet more load.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain i.e. Thy words discover the naughtiness of thy heart,…
i.e. Thy words discover the naughtiness of thy heart, and justify my charge against time, that thou castest off fear, &c. Thou speakest wickedly, but craftily; thou coverest thy impious principles and passions with fair pretences of piety and respect to God, wherewith thou endeavourest to mock God, and deceive men.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity,.... Which was in…
For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity,.... Which was in his heart, and so was an evidence against him, and proved him perverse, and made good the above charges exhibited against him: or "thine iniquity teaches thy mouth" (y); the wickedness that was in his heart prompted his mouth to speak the things he did, see Mat 12:34; and this, as it was an instance of his folly, Pro 15:2; so a proof of his casting off the fear of the Lord; for if that had been before his eyes, he would have bridled his lips, and not uttered all the wickedness of his heart: for he that "bridleth not his tongue, this man's religion is vain", Jam 1:26;
and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty; coloured over things under specious pretences of religion and godliness, so that the simple and ignorant took him for a holy good man, when he was at heart an hypocrite; in this light Eliphaz puts Job, as one that walked and talked in craftiness, and was a deceitful worker, and imposed upon men with false glosses and plausible pretences.
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(y) "docuit iniquitas tua os tuum", V. L. Pagninus, Bolducius; "docebit", Montanus; "docet", Piscator, Cocceius; so Tigurine version.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Uttereth - Thy words discover the naughtiness of thy…
Uttereth - Thy words discover the naughtiness of thy heart. Crafty - Thou speakest wickedly, and craftily: thou coverest thy impious principles with fair pretenses of piety.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 5. For thy mouth uttereth] In attempting to…
Verse 5. For thy mouth uttereth] In attempting to justify thyself, thou hast added iniquity to sin, and hast endeavoured to impute blame to thy Maker.
The tongue of the crafty.] Thou hast varnished thy own conduct, and used sophistical arguments to defend thyself. Thou resemblest those cunning persons, ערומים arumim, who derive their skill and dexterity from the old serpent, "the nachash, who was ערום arum, subtle, or crafty, beyond all the beasts of the field;" Ge 3:1. Thy wisdom is not from above, but from beneath.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Job 15:5-6. Thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity — Thy…
Job 15:5-6. Thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity — Thy words discover the naughtiness of thy heart, and justify my charge against thee, that thou castest off fear, &c. Thou choosest the tongue of the crafty — Thou speakest wickedly and craftily: thou coverest thy impious principles with fair pretences of piety and respect for God, wherewith thou endeavourest to deceive men. Thine own mouth condemneth thee — My condemnation of thee is grounded on thy own words.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity - Margin, “teacheth.”…
For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity - Margin, “teacheth.” That is, “your whole argument shows that you are a guilty man. A man who can defend such positions about God cannot be a pious man, or have any proper veneration for the Most High.” A man may pursue an argument, and defend positions, that shall as certainly show that he is destitute of religion as though he lived an abandoned life; and he who holds opinions that are dishonorable to God, can no more be a pious man than if he dishonored God by violating his law.
Thou choosest the tongue of the crafty - Instead of pursuing an argument with candor and sincerity, you have resorted to miserable sophisms, such as running disputants use. You have not showed a disposition to ascertain and defend the truth, but have relied on the arts and evasions of the subtle disputant and the rhetorician. His whole discourse, according to Eliphaz, was a work of mere art, designed to blind his hearers; to deceive them with a favorable opinion of his piety; and to give some plausible, but delusive view of the government of God.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Blasphemers. Hebrew, "of the crafty," which is sometimes taken…
Blasphemers. Hebrew, "of the crafty," which is sometimes taken in a good sense. Septuagint, "thou hast not distinguished the speeches of the princes." Thou hast not shewn respect to our admonitions, (Calmet) or understood our meaning. (Haydock) --- Thou rather choosest to imitate those false sages, who strive to deceive the world. Abuse could hardly be carried to greater lengths than it is by this man; who before spoke with some moderation, chap. iv. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain The sophistry of thine own speeches proves thy guilt.
The sophistry of thine own speeches proves thy guilt.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 5. Uttereth — יאלŠ, (yealleph,) teacheth. Iniquity is the…
5. Uttereth — יאלŠ, (yealleph,) teacheth. Iniquity is the grammatical subject of the sentence, which should read, For thine iniquity teacheth thee. Iniquity was his oracle — “an oracle of transgression,” נאם פשׁע, (Psa_36:2,) a kind of demon, in the inmost recesses of the heart, whispering the dialect, (the alephs,) the abc’s of evil.
Crafty — ’Haroum; the same word is used of the serpent in Gen_3:1. The use of this comparatively rare word may have made it an offensive echo of the preceding thought. “Job plays the part of a thief, who, when accused, strives to criminate his accusers.” — Ewald.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 5. for thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity] Rather, for…
5. for thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity] Rather, for thine iniquity (or, guilt) teacheth thy mouth; the meaning being that his mouth was prompted by his iniquity, used as its instrument. His inquity taught his mouth what to say.
choosest the tongue of the crafty] i. e. choosest and makest use of,—speakest as the crafty do. The charge of Eliphaz is that Job’s complaint of unrighteousness in God’s treatment of him and his assertions of his own innocence, and such words as those in ch. Job_12:6, were mere crafty pretences put forward to cover his own wickedness. If the first clause have precisely the same sense as the latter, the word “iniquity” must be translated “guilt.”
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (5) Thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity.—These words may mean…
(5) Thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity.—These words may mean either “Thy mouth teacheth thine iniquity,” or “Thine iniquity teacheth thy mouth,” and the second clause must be taken adversatively or otherwise according as we understand the meaning, “Thy mouth proclaimeth thine iniquity, though thou choosest the tongue of the crafty, and so contrivest in some degree to conceal it;” or, “Thine iniquity teacheth thy mouth its eloquence, and by consequence thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.” We incline to the latter, though it is fair to say that the next verse seems rather to favour the other meaning.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity. Some render, "Thine…
For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity. Some render, "Thine iniquity teacheth thy mouth," causing it to utter such profane speeches (Vulgate, Dillmann, Canon Cook, Revised Version); but the translation of the Authorized Version is defensible on grammatical grounds, and yields a good sense, so that no alteration is necessary. And thou choosest the tongue of the crafty; or, the tongue of the subtle. (comp. Gen_3:1, where the epithet assigned to the serpent is the same) Eliphaz probably means to tax Job with cloaking his real impiety under a pretence of religiousness.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.