Jam 3:1-8 | ESV | STEP | Not many of you should become teachers , my brothers , for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.

James 3:1-8

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 For ^bwe all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, ^che is a perfect man, ^dable also to bridle his whole body. 3 If we put ^ebits 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 ^fit boasts of great things.

How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! 6 And ^gthe tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, ^hstaining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, ^{▼▼Or wheel of birth} and set on fire by hell. ^{▼▼Greek Gehenna} 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, ^kfull of deadly poison.