Taming the Tongue
1 aNot many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. 2 bFor we all cstumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to dbridle his whole body. 3 If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. 4 Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. 5 So also the tongue is a small member, yet it eboasts of great things.
How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! 6 And the tongue is a ffire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, gstaining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life,1 and set on fire by hell.2 7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, hfull of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are imade in the likeness of God. 10 jFrom the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers,3 these things ought not to be so. 11 Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? 12 kCan a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.
Wisdom from Above
13 Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter ljealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, mdo not boast and be false to the truth. 15 This is not the nwisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, odemonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be pdisorder and every vile practice. 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of qmercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 18 And a rharvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who smake peace.
Warning Against Worldliness
1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions1 are at twar within you?2 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, ubecause you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask vwrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 You wadulterous people!3 xDo you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the yspirit that he has made to dwell in us”? 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, z“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. aResist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 bDraw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you cdouble-minded. 9 dBe wretched and mourn and weep. eLet your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 fHumble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
11 Do not speak evil against one another, brothers.4 The one who speaks against a brother or gjudges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is only one hlawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. iBut who are you to judge your neighbor?
Boasting About Tomorrow
13 Come now, you who say, j“Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet kyou do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a lmist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, m“If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. nAll such boasting is evil. 17 oSo whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
