James 3:1 – 12

¹Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.  ²For we all stumble in many ways.  And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body.  ³If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well.  ⁴Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs.  ⁵So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.

How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire!  ⁶And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness.  The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.  ⁷For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, ⁸but no human being can tame the tongue.  It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.  ⁹With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.  ¹⁰From the same mouth come blessing and cursing.  My brothers, these things ought not to be so.  ¹¹Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water?  ¹²Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs?  Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.