For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.
Parallel translations
- WEB For your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the language of the crafty.
- BSB For your iniquity instructs your mouth, and you choose the language of the crafty.
- NKJV For your iniquity teaches your mouth, And you choose the tongue of the crafty.
- NASB “For your wrongdoing teaches your mouth, And you choose the language of the cunning.
- NLT Your sins are telling your mouth what to say. Your words are based on clever deception.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Eliphaz says Job's own sin shapes his crafty speech. He claims guilt is behind Job's words.
Overview
Eliphaz asserts that Job's 'iniquity teaches your mouth' and that he chooses 'the language of the crafty.' He presumes hidden guilt is fueling Job's defense. This circular reasoning, assuming sin and then reading it into Job's words, typifies the friends' flawed approach to his suffering.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Jer 9:3–5And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the LORD.
- Jer 9:8Their tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaketh deceit: one speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in heart he layeth his wait.
- Jas 1:26If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.
- Ps 52:2–4Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs; like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.
- Luke 6:45A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.
- Jas 3:5–8Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!
- Ps 50:19–20Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit.
- Ps 64:3Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words:
- Ps 120:2–3Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue.
- Job 9:22–24This is one thing, therefore I said it, He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked.
- Job 5:13He taketh the wise in their own craftiness: and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong.
- Mark 7:21–22For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
- Job 12:6The tabernacles of robbers prosper, and they that provoke God are secure; into whose hand God bringeth abundantly.
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Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 15:5 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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