James:3:1-12

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* My brethren , let not many of you become teachers , knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment . * 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 . * Indeed , we put bits in horses ' mouths that they may obey us , and we turn their whole body . * 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 . * Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things . See how great a forest a little fire kindles ! * 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 . * For every kind of beast and bird , of reptile and creature of the sea , is tamed and has been tamed by mankind . * But no man can tame the tongue . It is an unruly evil , full of deadly poison . * With it we bless our God and Father , and with it we curse men , who have been made in the similitude of God . * Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing . My brethren , these things ought not to be so . * Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening ? * Can a fig tree , my brethren , bear olives , or a grapevine bear figs ? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh .

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