James 3 Many of you, my brothers, should avoid becoming teachers, because you know that we teachers are going to be judged with stricter judgment than other people.

Williams⁽ⁱ⁾ ¹ Many of you, my brothers, should avoid becoming teachers, because you know that we teachers are going to be judged with stricter judgment than other people. ² For we all make many a slip. If anyone never slips in speech, he is a man of maturity; he can control his whole body too. ³ If we put bridles into horses' mouths to make them obey us, we can guide their whole bodies, too. ⁴ Look at ships, too; though great and driven by violent winds, they are steered with a tiny rudder wherever the pilot pleases. ⁵ So the tongue, too, is a little organ but can boast of great achievements. See how a spark, ever so tiny, can set a vast forest on fire! ⁶ And the tongue is a fire, and takes its place among the parts of our bodies as a world of evil; it soils the whole body and sets on fire the circle of man's nature, and itself is set on fire by hell. ⁷ For every kind of beasts and birds, of reptiles and sea animals, can be, or have been, tamed by man; ⁸ but the tongue no human being can tame. It is an evil incapable of being quieted, full of deadly poison. ⁹ With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse men who are made in God's likeness. ¹⁰ Out of the same mouth flow blessing and cursing! It ought not to be like this, my brothers. ¹¹ A fountain cannot pour from the same opening fresh and brackish water, can it? ¹² A fig tree, my brothers, cannot bear olives, or a grape-vine figs, can it? And a salt spring cannot furnish fresh water. ¹³ Who among you is wise and intelligent? Let him show by his noble living that his good deeds are done in humility, which wisdom prompts. ¹⁴ But if you cherish bitter jealousy and rivalry in your hearts, stop being proud of it and stop being false to the standard of truth. ¹⁵ This is not the kind of wisdom that comes down from above; no, it is earthly, human, demoniacal. ¹⁶ For wherever jealousy and rivalry exist, there will be confusion and all sorts of evil practices. ¹⁷ The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of compassion and good deeds, free from doubts and insincerity. ¹⁸ The harvest of uprightness is grown from the seed of peace by those who are peacemakers.