Qualities Needed in Trials

^19 [a]So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, ^(A)slow to speak, ^(B)slow to wrath; ²⁰ for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

Doers—Not Hearers Only

²¹ Therefore ^(C)lay aside all filthiness and ^[b]overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, ^(D)which is able to save your souls.

²² But ^(E)be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. ²³ For ^(F)if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; ²⁴ for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. ²⁵ But ^(G)he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, ^(H)this one will be blessed in what he does.

²⁶ If anyone ^[c]among you thinks he is religious, and ^(I)does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless.

The Untamable Tongue

3 My brethren, ^(A)let not many of you become teachers, ^(B)knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. ² For ^(C)we all stumble in many things. ^(D)If anyone does not stumble in word, ^(E)he is a ^[a]perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body. ^3 [b]Indeed, ^(F)we put bits in horses’ mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body. ⁴ Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. ⁵ Even so ^(G)the tongue is a little member and ^(H)boasts great things.

See how great a forest a little fire kindles! ⁶ And ^(I)the tongue is a fire, a world of ^[c]iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it ^(J)defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of ^[d]nature; and it is set on fire by ^[e]hell. ⁷ For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. ⁸ But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, ^(K)full of deadly poison. ⁹ With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made ^(L)in the ^[f]similitude of God. ¹⁰ Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. ¹¹ Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? ¹² Can a ^(M)fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? ^[g]Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh.