James 3:5-12

English Standard Version

⁵ So also the tongue is a small member, yet ^(A)it boasts of great things.

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