3:1 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters; you know that we will be judged more severely.
3:2 All of us make many mistakes, after all. If anyone makes no mistakes in what they say, such a person is a fully complete human being, capable of keeping firm control over the whole body as well.
3:3 We put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, and then we can direct their whole bodies.
3:4 Consider, too, the case of large ships; it takes strong winds to blow them along, but one small rudder will turn them whichever way the helmsman desires and decides.
3:5 In the same way, the tongue is a little member but boasts great things. See how small a fire it takes to set a large forest ablaze!
3:6 And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is a world of injustice, with its place established right there among our members. It defiles the whole body; it sets the wheel of nature ablaze, and is itself set ablaze by hell.
3:7 Every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, you see, can be tamed, and has been tamed, by humans.
3:8 But no single human is able to tame the tongue. It is an irrepressible evil, full of deadly poison.
3:9 By it we bless the Lord and father; and by it we curse humans who are made in God’s likeness!
3:10 Blessing and curses come out of the same mouth! My dear family, it isn’t right that it should be like that.
3:11 Does a spring put out both sweet and bitter water from the same source?
3:12 Dear friends, can a fig tree bear olives, or a vine bear figs? Nor can salt water yield fresh.
3:13 Who is wise and discerning among you? Such a person should, by their upright behavior, display their works in the humility of wisdom.
3:14 But if you have bitter jealousy and contention in your hearts, don’t boast, and tell lies against the truth.
3:15 This isn’t the wisdom that comes from above. It is earthly, merely human, coming from the world of demons.
3:16 For where there is jealousy and contention, there you will get unruly behavior and every kind of evil practice.
3:17 But the wisdom that comes from above is first holy, then peaceful, gentle, compliant, filled with mercy and good fruits, unbiased, sincere.
3:18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
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