Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I: yea, thine own lips testify against thee.
Job 15:6 occurs in Eliphaz's second speech, a fresh set of accusations against Job. That speech belongs to the colloquies in chapters 3-31 between Job and his three friends on the cause and object of human suffering, which form the second of the five parts of Job. Its place in an inspired book establishes that Eliphaz truly spoke these words, but not that what he said is true. They express his own wisdom and observation, formed because he had never known a thoroughly good man to be so afflicted.
The statement means that a person's own mouth condemns him and his own lips testify against him, so that condemnation comes from his own words rather than from an accusation imposed from outside. Eliphaz uses it to claim that Job's own words condemn him. That claim belongs to the friends' mistaken charge that Job's suffering was caused by his sin, which misjudges Job, whom God was disciplining through affliction. Their accusations are unreliable because Job was upright, so his words must not be treated as proof of guilt when they contradict the Bible's account of his character.
The general principle that evil is ultimately punished and good is ultimately rewarded is true, but it is misapplied to Job, for affliction and suffering do not prove a man is under God's displeasure. Jesus the Son of God himself was the prince of sufferers, and God was working from beginning to end for His own glory, for Job's blessing, and for comfort and hope to thousands of sufferers. In the same way, those who publish clear proof that God's holy Sabbath is still the seventh day binding upon all mankind in all ages and countries stand condemned by their own admission. A book's own contents can likewise supply the condemnation of its claims, with its own words testifying against it.
Job 15:6 occurs in Eliphaz's second speech, a fresh set of accusations against Job. That speech belongs to the colloquies in chapters 3-31 between Job and his three friends on the cause and object of human suffering, which form the second of the five parts of Job. Its place in an inspired book establishes that Eliphaz truly spoke these words, but not that what he said is true. They express his own wisdom and observation, formed because he had never known a thoroughly good man to be so afflicted.
The statement means that a person's own mouth condemns him and his own lips testify against him, so that condemnation comes from his own words rather than from an accusation imposed from outside. Eliphaz uses it to claim that Job's own words condemn him. That claim belongs to the friends' mistaken charge that Job's suffering was caused by his sin, which misjudges Job, whom God was disciplining through affliction. Their accusations are unreliable because Job was upright, so his words must not be treated as proof of guilt when they contradict the Bible's account of his character.
The general principle that evil is ultimately punished and good is ultimately rewarded is true, but it is misapplied to Job, for affliction and suffering do not prove a man is under God's displeasure. Jesus the Son of God himself was the prince of sufferers, and God was working from beginning to end for His own glory, for Job's blessing, and for comfort and hope to thousands of sufferers. In the same way, those who publish clear proof that God's holy Sabbath is still the seventh day binding upon all mankind in all ages and countries stand condemned by their own admission. A book's own contents can likewise supply the condemnation of its claims, with its own words testifying against it.