James Chapter 3 Vs 1-12
Power of the Tongue.
1Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you realize that we will be judged more strictly,2for we all fall short in many respects. If anyone does not fall short in speech, he is a perfect man, able to bridle his whole body also.a3If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we also guide their whole bodies.4It is the same with ships: even though they are so large and driven by fierce winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot's inclination wishes.5In the same way the tongue is a small member and yet has great pretensions.
Consider how small a fire can set a huge forest ablaze.6The tongue is also a fire. It exists among our members as a world of malice, defiling the whole body and setting the entire course of our lives on fire, itself set on fire by Gehenna.7For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species,8but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.b9With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings who are made in the likeness of God.10From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. This need not be so, my brothers.11Does a spring gush forth from the same opening both pure and brackish water?12Can a fig tree, my brothers, produce olives, or a grapevine figs? Neither can salt water yield fresh.