James 3
3
Speak Wisely
1Brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers. You know that we who teach will be judged more severely.
2All of us make a lot of mistakes. If someone doesn’t make any mistakes when he speaks, he would be perfect. He would be able to control everything he does. 3We put bits in the mouths of horses to make them obey us, and we have control over everything they do. 4The same thing is true for ships. They are very big and are driven by strong winds. Yet, by using small rudders, pilots steer ships wherever they want them to go. 5In the same way the tongue is a small part of the body, but it can brag about doing important things.
A large forest can be set on fire by a little flame. 6The tongue is that kind of flame. It is a world of evil among the parts of our bodies, and it completely contaminates our bodies. The tongue sets our lives on fire, and is itself set on fire from hell. 7People have tamed all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and sea creatures. 8Yet, no one can tame the tongue. It is an uncontrollable evil filled with deadly poison.
9With our tongues we praise our Lord and Father. Yet, with the same tongues we curse people, who were created in God’s likeness. 10Praise and curses come from the same mouth. My brothers and sisters, this should not happen! 11Do clean and polluted water flow out of the same spring? 12My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree produce olives? Can a grapevine produce figs? In the same way, a pool of salt water can’t produce fresh water.
Live Wisely
13Do any of you have wisdom and insight? Show this by living the right way with the humility that comes from wisdom. 14But if you are bitterly jealous and filled with self-centered ambition, don’t brag. Don’t say that you are wise when it isn’t true. 15That kind of wisdom doesn’t come from above. It belongs to this world. It is self-centered and demonic. 16Wherever there is jealousy and rivalry, there is disorder and every kind of evil.
17However, the wisdom that comes from above is first of all pure. Then it is peaceful, gentle, obedient, filled with mercy and good deeds, impartial, and sincere. 18A harvest that has God’s approval comes from the peace planted by peacemakers.
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James 3: GW
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GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.
Ya'akov (Jas) 3
3
1Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, since you know that we will be judged more severely. 2For we all stumble in many ways; if someone does not stumble in what he says, he is a mature man who can bridle his whole body. 3If we put a bit into a horse’s mouth to make it obey us, we control its whole body as well. 4And think of a ship — although it is huge and is driven by strong winds, yet the pilot can steer it wherever he wants with just a small rudder. 5So too the tongue is a tiny part of the body, yet it boasts great things. See how a little fire sets a whole forest ablaze! 6Yes, the tongue is a fire, a world of wickedness. The tongue is so placed in our body that it defiles every part of it, setting ablaze the whole of our life; and it is set on fire by Gei-Hinnom itself. 7For people have tamed and continue to tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures; 8but the tongue no one can tame — it is an unstable and evil thing, full of death-dealing poison! 9With it we bless Adonai, the Father; and with it we curse people, who were made in the image of God. 10Out of the same mouth come blessing and cursing! Brothers, it isn’t right for things to be this way. 11A spring doesn’t send both fresh and bitter water from the same opening, does it? 12Can a fig tree yield olives, my brothers? or a grapevine, figs? Neither does salt water produce fresh.
13Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him demonstrate it by his good way of life, by actions done in the humility that grows out of wisdom. 14But if you harbor in your hearts bitter jealousy and selfish ambition, don’t boast and attack the truth with lies! 15This wisdom is not the kind that comes down from above; on the contrary, it is worldly, unspiritual, demonic. 16For where there are jealousy and selfish ambition, there will be disharmony and every foul practice. 17But the wisdom from above is, first of all, pure, then peaceful, kind, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. 18And peacemakers who sow seed in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.
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