Job 15:5

Your sin inspires ¹  your mouth; you choose the language ²  of the crafty. ³ 

Your sin prompts your mouth; you adopt the tongue of the crafty.

"For your guilt teaches your mouth, And you choose the language of the crafty.

Your sins are telling your mouth what to say. Your words are based on clever deception.

It's your sin that taught you to talk this way. You chose an education in fraud.

For your mouth is guided by your sin, and you have taken the tongue of the false for yourself.

For your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the tongue of the crafty.

For your iniquity teaches your mouth, And you choose the tongue of the crafty.

Your sin inspires ¹  your mouth; you choose the language ²  of the crafty. ³ 

¹ tn The verb אַלֵּף (’allef) has the meaning of “to teach; to instruct,” but it is unlikely that the idea of revealing is intended. If the verb is understood metonymically, then “to inspire; to prompt” will be sufficient. Dahood and others find another root, and render the verb “to increase,” reversing subject and object: “your mouth increases your iniquity.”

² tn Heb “tongue.”

³ tn The word means “shrewd; crafty; cunning” (see Gen 3:1). Job uses clever speech that is misleading and destructive.