Job 15:5 Meaning and Explanation

Eliphaz presses his case by tracing Job's words back to his heart. He asserts that Job's own mouth reveals his iniquity, and that he has chosen the tongue of the crafty, the smooth, calculating speech of someone trying to cover guilt with clever argument.

The principle that speech reveals the heart is true; the application to Job is false. Eliphaz assumes that anyone who defends himself so vigorously must be hiding wrongdoing. But the reader knows Job is upright. The verse shows how a sound truth can be turned into a weapon when wielded without love. We are wise to remember that the words pouring from a sufferer may be grief, not guile.