Book of Common Prayer
3 My brothers, not many of you should be teachers. You know that we who teach will be punished more than other people.
2 We all do many wrong things. Any man who never says anything wrong is right in every way. He is able to make his whole body do what is right.
3 We put a piece of iron in the mouths of horses so they will obey us. Then we can make their whole bodies go where we want them to go.
4 Look at the big boats also. They are very big. The strong winds push them along. But a man uses a small piece of wood and makes the boat go where he wants it to go.
5 A person's tongue is like that. It is a small part of the body but it talks about big things. A very small fire can burn a big pile of wood!
6 The tongue is like a fire. It is like a whole world of trouble. It is a part of our body. And it makes our whole body bad. It burns up our whole life. And the fire that makes the tongue burn comes from hell.
7 People have been able to tame all kinds of animals, birds, snakes, and fish.
8 But no one can tame the tongue. It is a bad thing that will not be ruled. It is full of poison that can kill.
9 We praise our Lord and Father with our tongues. And we speak wrong words about people with our tongues, even though they were made like God.
10 Praising and wrong words come out of the same mouth! My brothers, this should not be so.
11 Do good water and bad water both come from the same place?
12 My brothers, do olives come from a fig tree? Or do figs come from a vine? No, they do not! Salt water and fresh water do not both come from the same place.
13 Who among you is wise and knows about things? He should show what he knows by his good life. He will not be proud because he is wise.
44 `The kingdom of heaven is like this. Something worth a lot of money is buried in a field. A man found it and covered it again. He was so glad that he went and sold everything he had. Then he bought that field.'
45 `The kingdom of heaven is like this. A trader was looking for fine stones called pearls.
46 He found a pearl that was worth a lot of money. Then he went and sold everything he had and bought it.'
47 `The kingdom of heaven is like this. A fish net was thrown into the sea. It caught all kinds of fish.
48 When it was full, the men pulled it to the land. They sat down and picked out the good fish into baskets. But they threw the bad fish away.
49 That is the way it will be at the end of the world. The angels will come and take the bad people away from the good people.
50 They will put the bad people into the never-ending hell fire. There they will cry and make a noise with their teeth.'
51 Jesus asked, `Have you understood all these stories?' The disciples said, `Yes.'
52 Then Jesus said to them, `So anyone who knows the law and has learned about the kingdom of heaven, is like the headman of a house. He can bring both new things and old things out of what he has stored up.'
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