Thematic Bible
James 3:1 (show verse)
My brothers, do not swell the ranks of the teachers; remember, we teachers will be judged with special strictness.
James 3:2 (show verse)
We all make many a slip, but whoever avoids slips of speech is a perfect man; he can bridle the whole of the body as well as the tongue.
James 3:3 (show verse)
We put bridles into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, and so, you see, we can move the whole of their bodies.
James 3:4 (show verse)
Look at ships too; for all their size and speed under stiff winds, they are turned by a tiny rudder wherever the mind of the steersman chooses.
James 3:5 (show verse)
So the tongue is a small member of the body, but it can boast of great exploits. What a forest is set ablaze by a little spark of fire!
James 3:6 (show verse)
And the tongue is a fire, the tongue proves a very world of mischief among our members, staining the whole of the body and setting fire to the round circle of existence with a flame fed by hell.
James 3:7 (show verse)
For while every kind of beast and bird, of creeping animals and creatures marine, is tameable and has been tamed by mankind,
James 3:8 (show verse)
no man can tame the tongue ??plague of disorder that it is, full of deadly venom!
James 3:9 (show verse)
With the tongue we bless the Lord and Father, and with the tongue we curse men made in God's likeness;
James 3:10 (show verse)
blessing and cursing stream from the same lips! My brothers, this ought not to be.
James 3:11 (show verse)
Does a fountain pour out fresh water and brackish from the same hole?
James 3:12 (show verse)
Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives? Or a vine, figs? No more can salt water yield fresh.
James 3:13 (show verse)
Who among you is wise and learned? Let him show by his good conduct, with the modesty of wisdom, what his deeds are.
James 3:14 (show verse)
But if you are cherishing bitter jealousy and rivalry in your hearts, do not pride yourselves on that ??and be false to the truth.
James 3:15 (show verse)
That is not the wisdom which comes down from above, it is an earthly wisdom, sensuous, devilish;
James 3:16 (show verse)
for wherever jealousy and rivalry exist, there disorder reigns and every evil.
James 3:17 (show verse)
The wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peaceable, forbearing, conciliatory, full of mercy and wholesome fruit, unambiguous, straightforward;
James 3:18 (show verse)
and the peacemakers who sow in peace reap righteousness.