James 3:1-10 ▼

1 MY brethren, do not allow doubtful teachers among you; but know, that we are under a great judgment.

2 For in many things we all stumble. Anyone who does not offend in word, this one is a perfect man, and able also to subdue his whole body.

3 Behold, we put bits into the mouths of horses, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body.

4 Behold also the ships, great as they are, when driven by severe winds, they are turned about with a very small rudder, wherever the pilot wishes.

5 Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasts great things. Likewise, a small fire sets ablaze the large forests.

6 The tongue is a fire, and the sinful world like a forest: that very tongue, while it is among our members, can defile our whole body, and set on fire the records of our race which have rolled down from the beginning: and in the end it is consumed by fire.

7 For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of creatures of the sea and of the land are under the subjugation of the will of man.

8 But the tongue no man can tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

9 By it we bless the LORD and the Father; and by it we curse men, who are made in the image of God:

10 Out of the same mouth proceed curses and blessings. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.