VERSE 5. — 'My words shall be from a simple heart, and my lips shall speak a pure sentence.' 17. They falsely glory in simplicity. — Simplicity of speech is the praise of great virtue. Because the arrogant do not possess it, they the more anxiously assert that they do have it, so that they may be heard the more securely. And they declare that they will speak purely, because they dread lest the malice of their duplicity be detected. But often they mingle truths with falsehoods, so that their lie may be believed the more readily, since the assertion of truth is recognized to be present in it. Since therefore Elihu both professed that he would speak purely, and, by calling his words 'sentences,' won favour in advance, he now adds that very sentence which he promised, saying: