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James 3:9

Verse 9 of 18. The 3rd of 5 chapters in James, in The General Letters.

5So the tongue is also a little member, and boasts great things. See how a small fire can spread to a large forest!

6And the tongue is a fire. The world of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and is set on fire by Gehenna.

7For every kind of animal, bird, creeping thing, and sea creature is tamed, and has been tamed by mankind;

8but nobody can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

9With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men who are made in the image of God.

10Out of the same mouth comes blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.

11Does a spring send out from the same opening fresh and bitter water?

12Can a fig tree, my brothers, yield olives, or a vine figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh water.

13Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by his good conduct that his deeds are done in gentleness of wisdom.

Read James 3

World English Bible. Public domain. Set as prose throughout, including the poetry, because the text is published to us without its lines.