James 3

Watch Your Mouth

1 My brothers and sisters, not everybody should rush to become a teacher. You know teachers will face a stricter judgment.

2 We all mess up in plenty of ways. Anybody who never stumbles in what they say is mature enough to control their whole body.

3 We put a small bit in a horse’s mouth, and that little piece lets us guide the whole animal.

4 Look at ships too. They are huge and pushed by strong winds, but a tiny rudder turns them wherever the pilot wants.

5 The tongue is small like that, but it talks real big. One tiny flame can set a whole forest on fire.

6 The tongue can be a fire, a whole world of wrongdoing sitting among our body parts. It stains the whole person, sets the course of life on fire, and gets its own flames from hell.

7 Human beings have tamed every kind of animal, bird, reptile, and sea creature.

8 But no human being can fully tame the tongue. It stays restless and dangerous, loaded with deadly poison.

9 With the same mouth, we praise our Lord and Father, then turn around and curse people made in God’s likeness.

10 Blessing and cursing pour out of the same mouth. My brothers and sisters, it should not be like that.

11 Can one spring pour out both fresh water and bitter water from the same opening,

12 Can a fig tree grow olives, or a grapevine grow figs, In the same way, a saltwater spring cannot produce fresh water.

Wisdom from Above

13 Who among you all is wise and understanding, Let them prove it through a good life, doing their work with the humility that real wisdom produces.

14 But if your heart is full of bitter jealousy and selfish ambition, do not brag and lie against the truth.

15 That kind of so-called wisdom did not come down from heaven. It is earthly, driven by selfish desires, and demonic.

16 Where jealousy and selfish ambition run the room, confusion and every kind of evil behavior follow.

17 But wisdom from above is first pure, then peace-loving, gentle, willing to listen, full of mercy and good fruit, fair, and free from pretending.

18 People who make peace plant seeds of peace and harvest a life of righteousness.