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Read the Bible

Young's Literal Translation

Job 15:5

For thy mouth teacheth thine iniquity, And thou chooseth the tongue of the subtile.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Thompson Chain Reference - Craftiness;   Duplicity;   Simplicity-Duplicity;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Eliphaz;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Evil;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Greatness of God;   Hypocrisy;   Works, Good;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Job, the Book of;   Tongue;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Eliphaz (2);   Job, Book of;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Your iniquity teaches you what to say,and you choose the language of the crafty.
Hebrew Names Version
For your iniquity teaches your mouth, And you choose the language of the crafty.
King James Version
For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.
English Standard Version
For your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the tongue of the crafty.
New Century Version
Your sin teaches your mouth what to say; you use words to trick others.
New English Translation
Your sin inspires your mouth; you choose the language of the crafty.
Amplified Bible
"For your guilt teaches your mouth, And you choose [to speak] the language of the crafty and cunning.
New American Standard Bible
"For your wrongdoing teaches your mouth, And you choose the language of the cunning.
World English Bible
For your iniquity teaches your mouth, And you choose the language of the crafty.
Geneva Bible (1587)
For thy mouth declareth thine iniquitie, seeing thou hast chosen ye tongue of the crafty.
Legacy Standard Bible
For your iniquity teaches your mouth,And you choose the tongue of the crafty.
Berean Standard Bible
For your iniquity instructs your mouth, and you choose the language of the crafty.
Contemporary English Version
And your sinful, scheming mind is the source of all you say.
Complete Jewish Bible
Your iniquity is teaching you how to speak, and deceit is your language of choice.
Darby Translation
For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou hast chosen the tongue of the crafty.
Easy-to-Read Version
What you say clearly shows your sin. Job, you are trying to hide your sin by using clever words.
George Lamsa Translation
For your mouth is accustomed to utter sinful things, and you choose the deceitful tongue of the crafty.
Good News Translation
Your wickedness is evident by what you say; you are trying to hide behind clever words.
Lexham English Bible
For your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the tongue of the crafty.
Literal Translation
For your iniquity teaches your mouth; and you choose the tongue of the crafty.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
but thy wickednesse teacheth thy mouth, and so thou hast chosen the a craftie tonge.
American Standard Version
For thine iniquity teacheth thy mouth, And thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.
Bible in Basic English
For your mouth is guided by your sin, and you have taken the tongue of the false for yourself.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
For thine iniquity teacheth thy mouth, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.
King James Version (1611)
For thy mouth vttereth thine iniquitie, and thou choosest the tongue of the craftie.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
For thy mouth setteth forth thyne owne iniquitie, seeing thou hast chosen the tongue of the craftie.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Thou art guilty by the words of thy mouth, neither hast thou discerned the words of the mighty.
English Revised Version
For thine iniquity teacheth thy mouth, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
For wickidnesse hath tauyt thi mouth, and thou suest the tunge of blasfemeris.
Update Bible Version
For your iniquity teaches your mouth, And you choose the tongue of the crafty.
Webster's Bible Translation
For thy mouth uttereth thy iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.
New King James Version
For your iniquity teaches your mouth, And you choose the tongue of the crafty.
New Living Translation
Your sins are telling your mouth what to say. Your words are based on clever deception.
New Life Bible
You show your sin by what you say. You are trying to hide behind your words.
New Revised Standard
For your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the tongue of the crafty.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
For thine own mouth would teach thine iniquity, and thou wouldst choose the tongue of the crafty.
Douay-Rheims Bible
For thy iniquity hath taught thy mouth, and thou imitatest the tongue of blasphemers.
Revised Standard Version
For your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the tongue of the crafty.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"For your guilt teaches your mouth, And you choose the language of the crafty.

Contextual Overview

1 And Eliphaz the Temanite answereth and saith: -- 2 Doth a wise man answer [with] vain knowledge? And fill [with] an east wind his belly? 3 To reason with a word not useful? And speeches -- no profit in them? 4 Yea, thou dost make reverence void, And dost diminish meditation before God. 5 For thy mouth teacheth thine iniquity, And thou chooseth the tongue of the subtile. 6 Thy mouth declareth thee wicked, and not I, And thy lips testify against thee. 7 The first man art thou born? And before the heights wast thou formed? 8 Of the secret counsel of God dost thou hear? And withdrawest thou unto thee wisdom? 9 What hast thou known, and we know not? Understandest thou -- and it is not with us? 10 Both the gray-headed And the very aged [are] among us -- Greater than thy father [in] days.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

uttereth: Heb. teacheth, Job 9:22-24, Job 12:6, Mark 7:21, Mark 7:22, Luke 6:45, James 1:26

thou choosest: Psalms 50:19, Psalms 50:20, Psalms 52:2-4, Psalms 64:3, Psalms 120:2, Psalms 120:3, Jeremiah 9:3-5, Jeremiah 9:8, James 3:5-8

Reciprocal: Genesis 27:24 - I am Job 9:20 - mine Job 22:5 - not thy Job 22:20 - our substance Job 33:32 - General Job 34:8 - General Jeremiah 9:5 - taught Matthew 23:31 - witnesses Matthew 25:26 - Thou Luke 19:22 - Out

Cross-References

Genesis 12:2
And I make thee become a great nation, and bless thee, and make thy name great; and be thou a blessing.
Genesis 13:16
And I have set thy seed as dust of the earth, so that, if one is able to number the dust of the earth, even thy seed is numbered;
Genesis 15:7
And He saith unto him, `I [am] Jehovah who brought thee out from Ur of the Chaldees, to give to thee this land to possess it;'
Genesis 15:8
and he saith, `Lord Jehovah, whereby do I know that I possess it?'
Genesis 16:10
and the messenger of Jehovah saith to her, `Multiplying I multiply thy seed, and it is not numbered from multitude;'
Genesis 22:17
that blessing I bless thee, and multiplying I multiply thy seed as stars of the heavens, and as sand which [is] on the sea-shore; and thy seed doth possess the gate of his enemies;
Genesis 26:4
and I have multiplied thy seed as stars of the heavens, and I have given to thy seed all these lands; and blessed themselves in thy seed have all nations of the earth;
Genesis 28:14
and thy seed hath been as the dust of the land, and thou hast broken forth westward, and eastward, and northward, and southward, and all families of the ground have been blessed in thee and in thy seed.
Exodus 32:13
`Be mindful of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, Thy servants, to whom Thou hast sworn by Thyself, and unto whom Thou speakest: I multiply your seed as stars of the heavens, and all this land, as I have said, I give to your seed, and they have inherited to the age;'
Deuteronomy 1:10
Jehovah your God hath multiplied you, and lo, ye [are] to-day as the stars of the heavens for multitude;

Gill's Notes on the 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 Matthew 12:34; and this, as it was an instance of his folly, Proverbs 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", James 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 יאלף עונך פיך "docuit iniquitas tua os tuum", V. L. Pagninus, Bolducius; "docebit", Montanus; "docet", Piscator, Cocceius; so Tigurine version.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

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.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 15:5. 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;" Genesis 3:1. Thy wisdom is not from above, but from beneath.


 
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