Control Your Tongue

3 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. ² To be sure, we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a fully mature man, able to bridle his whole body as well.

³ If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they will obey us, we also guide the whole animal. ⁴ And consider ships: Although they are very big and are driven by fierce winds, yet they are guided by a very small rudder, wherever the pilot wants to go. ⁵ So also the tongue is a small part of the body, yet it also boasts great things.

Consider how a little flame can set a large forest on fire! ⁶ And the tongue is a fire. It is set among the parts of our body as a world of unrighteousness that stains the whole body, sets the whole course of life on fire, and is set on fire by hell.^{[a] 7} Indeed, every kind of animal, bird, reptile, and sea creature is being tamed and has been tamed by mankind. ⁸ But no one is able to tame the human tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. ⁹ With it we bless our Lord^[b] and Father, and with it we curse people, who are made in the likeness of God. ¹⁰ Blessing and cursing come out of the same mouth. My brothers, these things should not be this way. ¹¹ A spring does not pour out both fresh and bitter water from the same opening, does it? ¹² Can a fig tree bear olives, my brothers, or can a grapevine produce figs? A salt spring cannot produce fresh water either.^[c]