BibleInTonguesWEB
James 3
A warning to would-be teachers opens this chapter, since they face heavier judgment, and it widens into a meditation on the tongue. James reaches for images: the bit in a horse's mouth, the small rudder steering a great ship, a tiny spark setting a forest ablaze. Nobody can tame the tongue, this restless evil, yet from one mouth come both blessing and the cursing of people made in God's image.
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Let not many of you be teachers, my brothers, knowing that we will receive heavier judgment.
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For we all stumble in many things. Anyone who doesn’t stumble in word is a perfect person, able to bridle the whole body also.
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Indeed, we put bits into the horses’ mouths so that they may obey us, and we guide their whole body.
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Behold, the ships also, though they are so big and are driven by fierce winds, are yet guided by a very small rudder, wherever the pilot desires.
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So the tongue is also a little member, and boasts great things. See how a small fire can spread to a large forest!
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And 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.
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For every kind of animal, bird, creeping thing, and sea creature is tamed, and has been tamed by mankind;
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but nobody can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
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With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men who are made in the image of God.
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Out of the same mouth comes blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.
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Does a spring send out from the same opening fresh and bitter water?
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Can a fig tree, my brothers, yield olives, or a vine figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh water.
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Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by his good conduct that his deeds are done in gentleness of wisdom.
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But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, don’t boast and don’t lie against the truth.
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This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, sensual, and demonic.
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For where jealousy and selfish ambition are, there is confusion and every evil deed.
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But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceful, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
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Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
- 1
HERMANOS míos, no os hagáis muchos maestros, sabiendo que recibiremos mayor condenación.
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Porque todos ofendemos en muchas cosas. Si alguno no ofende en palabra, éste es varón perfecto, que también puede con freno gobernar todo el cuerpo.
- 3
He aquí nosotros ponemos frenos en las bocas de los caballos para que nos obedezcan, y gobernamos todo su cuerpo.
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Mirad también las naves: aunque tan grandes, y llevadas de impetuosos vientos, son gobernadas con un muy pequeño timón por donde quisiere el que las gobierna.
- 5
Así también, la lengua es un miembro pequeño, y se gloría de grandes cosas. He aquí, un pequeño fuego ¡cuán grande bosque enciende!
- 6
Y la lengua es un fuego, un mundo de maldad. Así la lengua está puesta entre nuestros miembros, la cual contamina todo el cuerpo, é inflama la rueda de la creación, y es inflamada del infierno.
- 7
Porque toda naturaleza de bestias, y de aves, y de serpientes, y de seres de la mar, se doma y es domada de la naturaleza humana:
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Pero ningún hombre puede domar la lengua, que es un mal que no puede ser refrenado; llena de veneno mortal.
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Con ella bendecimos al Dios y Padre, y con ella maldecimos á los hombres, los cuales son hechos á la semejanza de Dios.
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De una misma boca proceden bendición y maldición. Hermanos míos, no conviene que estas cosas sean así hechas.
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¿Echa alguna fuente por una misma abertura agua dulce y amarga?
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Hermanos míos, ¿puede la higuera producir aceitunas, ó la vid higos? Así ninguna fuente puede hacer agua salada y dulce.
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¿Quién es sabio y avisado entre vosotros? muestre por buena conversación sus obras en mansedumbre de sabiduría.
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Pero si tenéis envidia amarga y contención en vuestros corazones, no os gloriéis, ni seáis mentirosos contra la verdad:
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Que esta sabiduría no es la que desciende de lo alto, sino terrena, animal, diabólica.
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Porque donde hay envidia y contención, allí hay perturbación y toda obra perversa.
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Mas la sabiduría que es de lo alto, primeramente es pura, después pacífica, modesta, benigna, llena de misericordia y de buenos frutos, no juzgadora, no fingida.
- 18
Y el fruto de justicia se siembra en paz para aquellos que hacen paz.
Two wisdoms, traced to their fruit
The second half tests wisdom by its fruit. Bitter jealousy and selfish ambition mark a wisdom that is earthly, sensual, even demonic, breeding confusion and every evil deed.
Against it stands wisdom from above: first pure, then peaceful, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy. The chapter ends on the farmer-like image of righteousness sown in peace, linking the controlled tongue to the harvest of a peacemaker.
Context layers
Keep these closed by default and open them only when you want more context.
- JudgmentWhat judgment means in the Bible, how it relates to justice, mercy, and final accountability, and where to read it without flattening it into threat or embarrassment.
- MercyWhat mercy means in the Bible, how it differs from sentimentality, and where Scripture shows its depth most clearly.
- PeaceWhat peace means in the Bible, how it relates to reconciliation with God, and why it is more than calm feelings or conflict avoidance.
- RighteousnessWhat righteousness means in the Bible, how it relates to justice and right standing, and why it cannot be reduced to private morality.
- Exodus 36:1Related through the topic "Wisdom".
- Deuteronomy 4:6Related through the topic "Wisdom".
- Isaiah 29:14Related through the topic "Wisdom".
- Daniel 2:21Related through the topic "Wisdom".
- Exodus 28:3Related through the topic "Wisdom".
- Exodus 31:3Related through the topic "Wisdom".
- Exodus 31:6Related through the topic "Wisdom".
- Exodus 35:31Related through the topic "Wisdom".
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