Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 15:5

For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.

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.”

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

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.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

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, arumim, who derive their skill and dexterity from the old serpent, “the nachash, who was arum, subtle, or crafty, beyond all the beasts of the field;” Ge 3:1. Thy wisdom is not from above, but from beneath.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

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.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

5. The sophistry of thine ownspeeches proves thy guilt.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

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 Mt 12:34; and this, as it was an instance of his folly, Pr 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”, Jas 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.

y “docuit iniquitas tua os tuum”, V. L. Pagninus, Bolducius; “docebit”, Montanus; “docet”, Piscator, Cocceius; so Tigurine version.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(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.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

5. Uttereth , ( 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,” , (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.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments