James 3:1-5

Contemporary English Version

The Tongue

3 My friends, we should not all try to become teachers. In fact, teachers will be judged more strictly than others. ^2 (A) All of us do many wrong things. But if you can control your tongue, you are mature and able to control your whole body.

³ By putting a bit into the mouth of a horse, we can turn the horse in different directions. ⁴ It takes strong winds to move a large sailing ship, but the captain uses only a small rudder to make it go in any direction. ⁵ Our tongues are small too, and yet they brag about big things.

It takes only a spark to start a forest fire!