Jas.3.1

Don't be in any rush to become a teacher, my friends. Teaching is highly responsible work. Teachers are held to the strictest standards.

Jas.3.1

Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.

Jas.3.1

My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.

Jas.3.1

Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged by God with greater strictness.

Jas.3.2

And none of us is perfectly qualified. We get it wrong nearly every time we open our mouths. If you could find someone whose speech was perfectly true, you'd have a perfect person, in perfect control of life.

Jas.3.2

We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.

Jas.3.2

For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.

Jas.3.2

We all make many mistakes, but those who control their tongues can also control themselves in every other way.

Jas.3.3

A bit in the mouth of a horse controls the whole horse.

Jas.3.3

When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal.

Jas.3.3

Indeed, we put bits in horses' mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body.

Jas.3.3

We can make a large horse turn around and go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth.

Jas.3.4

A small rudder on a huge ship in the hands of a skilled captain sets a course in the face of the strongest winds.

Jas.3.4

Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go.

Jas.3.4

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.

Jas.3.4

And a tiny rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot wants it to go, even though the winds are strong.

Jas.3.5

A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything--or destroy it! It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire.

Jas.3.5

Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark.

Jas.3.5

Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles!

Jas.3.5

So also, the tongue is a small thing, but what enormous damage it can do. A tiny spark can set a great forest on fire.

Jas.3.6

A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell.

Jas.3.6

The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

Jas.3.6

And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell.

Jas.3.6

And the tongue is a flame of fire. It is full of wickedness that can ruin your whole life. It can turn the entire course of your life into a blazing flame of destruction, for it is set on fire by hell itself.

Jas.3.7

This is scary: You can tame a tiger,

Jas.3.7

All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man,

Jas.3.7

For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind.

Jas.3.7

People can tame all kinds of animals and birds and reptiles and fish,

Jas.3.8

but you can't tame a tongue--it's never been done. The tongue runs wild, a wanton killer.

Jas.3.8

but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

Jas.3.8

But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

Jas.3.8

but no one can tame the tongue. It is an uncontrollable evil, full of deadly poison.

Jas.3.9

With our tongues we bless God our Father; with the same tongues we curse the very men and women he made in his image.

Jas.3.9

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness.

Jas.3.9

With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God.

Jas.3.9

Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it breaks out into curses against those who have been made in the image of God.

Jas.3.10

Curses and blessings out of the same mouth! My friends, this can't go on.

Jas.3.10

Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.

Jas.3.10

Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so.

Jas.3.10

And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right!

Jas.3.11

A spring doesn't gush fresh water one day and brackish the next, does it?

Jas.3.11

Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?

Jas.3.11

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

Jas.3.11

Does a spring of water bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water?

Jas.3.12

Apple trees don't bear strawberries, do they? Raspberry bushes don't bear apples, do they? You're not going to dip into a polluted mud hole and get a cup of clear, cool water, are you?

Jas.3.12

My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

Jas.3.12

Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh.

Jas.3.12

Can you pick olives from a fig tree or figs from a grapevine? No, and you can't draw fresh water from a salty pool.

Jas.3.13

Do you want to be counted wise, to build a reputation for wisdom? Here's what you do: Live well, live wisely, live humbly. It's the way you live, not the way you talk, that counts.

Jas.3.13

Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.

Jas.3.13

Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom.

Jas.3.13

If you are wise and understand God's ways, live a life of steady goodness so that only good deeds will pour forth. And if you don't brag about the good you do, then you will be truly wise!

Jas.3.14

Mean-spirited ambition isn't wisdom. Boasting that you are wise isn't wisdom. Twisting the truth to make yourselves sound wise isn't wisdom.

Jas.3.14

But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth.

Jas.3.14

But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth.

Jas.3.14

But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your hearts, don't brag about being wise. That is the worst kind of lie.

Jas.3.15

It's the furthest thing from wisdom--it's animal cunning, devilish conniving.

Jas.3.15

Such "wisdom" does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil.

Jas.3.15

This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic.

Jas.3.15

For jealousy and selfishness are not God's kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and motivated by the Devil.

Jas.3.16

Whenever you're trying to look better than others or get the better of others, things fall apart and everyone ends up at the others' throats.

Jas.3.16

For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

Jas.3.16

For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.

Jas.3.16

For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and every kind of evil.

Jas.3.17

Real wisdom, God's wisdom, begins with a holy life and is characterized by getting along with others. It is gentle and reasonable, overflowing with mercy and blessings, not hot one day and cold the next, not two-faced.

Jas.3.17

But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.

Jas.3.17

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.

Jas.3.17

But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and good deeds. It shows no partiality and is always sincere.

Jas.3.18

You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor.

Jas.3.18

Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.

Jas.3.18

Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

Jas.3.18

And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of goodness.