For thy mouth uttereth - In attempting to justify thyself, thou hast added iniquity to sin, and hast endeavored 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.
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.