Darby Bible
James 3:5
5Thus also the tongue is a little member, and boasts great things. See how little a fire, how large a wood it kindles!
James 3:5 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!
- New International Version (NIV)Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark.
- English Standard Version (ESV)So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire!
- New King James Version (NKJV)Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles!
Context of James 3:5
3Behold, we put the bits in the mouths of the horses, that they may obey us, and we turn round their whole bodies. 4Behold also the ships, which are so great, and driven by violent winds, are turned about by a very small rudder, wherever the pleasure of the helmsman will. Thus also the tongue is a little member, and boasts great things. See how little a fire, how large a wood it kindles! 6and the tongue [is] fire, the world of unrighteousness; the tongue is set in our members, the defiler of the whole body, and which sets fire to the course of nature, and is set on fire of hell. 7For every species both of beasts and of birds, both of creeping things and of sea animals, is tamed and has been tamed by the human species;
Read all of James 3James 3:5 word by word
Οὕτως καὶ ἡ γλῶσσα μικρὸν μέλος ἐστὶν καὶ μεγάλα αὐχεῖ. ἰδοὺ ἡλίκον πῦρ ἡλίκην ὕλην ἀνάπτει·Read the interlinear
Cross-references for James 3:5
- Exodus 5:2And Pharaoh said, Who is Jehovah, to whose voice I am to hearken to let Israel go? I do not know Jehovah, neither will I let Israel go.
- Exodus 15:9The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my soul shall be sated upon them; I will unsheath my sword, my hand shall dispossess them.
- 2 Kings 19:22Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted the voice? Against the Holy one of Israel hast thou lifted up thine eyes on high.
- Job 21:14And they say unto God, Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways!
- Job 22:17Who said unto God, Depart from us! and what could the Almighty do to them?
- Psalms 10:3For the wicked boasteth of his soul's desire, and he blesseth the covetous; he contemneth Jehovah.
- Psalms 12:2They speak falsehood every one with his neighbour: [with] flattering lip, with a double heart, do they speak.
- Psalms 17:10They are enclosed in their own fat; with their mouth they speak proudly.
- Psalms 52:1Why boastest thou thyself in evil, thou mighty man? The loving-kindness of God [abideth] continually.
- Psalms 73:8They mock and speak wickedly of oppression, they speak loftily:
- Proverbs 12:18There is that babbleth like the piercings of a sword; but the tongue of the wise is health.
- Proverbs 15:2The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright; but the mouth of the foolish poureth out folly.
- Proverbs 18:21Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.
- Jeremiah 9:3And they bend their tongue, their bow of falsehood, and not for fidelity are they valiant in the land; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith Jehovah.
- Jeremiah 18:18And they said, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor word from the prophet. Come and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.
- Ezekiel 28:2Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyre, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because thy heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a god, I sit [in] the seat of God, in the heart of the seas, (and thou art a man, and not God,) and thou settest thy heart as the heart of God:
Commentaries on James 3:5
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 5Boasteth great things - That is, can do great things, whether of a good or evil kind. He seems to refer here to the powerful and all commanding eloquence of the Greek orators: they could carry the great mob whithersoever they wished; calm them to peaceableness and submission, or excite them to furious sedition. Behold, how great a matter - See what a flame of discord and insubordination one man, merely by his persuasive tongue, may kindle among the common…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 5Even so the tongue is a little member - Little compared with the body, as the bit or the rudder is, compared with the horse or the ship. And boasteth great things - The design of the apostle is to illustrate the power and influence of the tongue. This may be done in a great many respects: and the apostle does it by referring to its boasting; to the effects which it produces, resembling that of fire, James 3:6; to its untameableness, James 3:8-9; and to…Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 55. boasteth great things--There is great moment in what the careless think "little" things [Bengel]. Compare "a world," "the course of nature," "hell," Jas 3:6, which illustrate how the little tongue's great words produce great mischief. how great a matter a little fire kindleth--The best manuscripts read, "how little a fire kindleth how great a," &c. Alford, for "matter," translates, "forest." But Grotius translates as English Version, "material for…Read the comment
Topics related to James 3:5
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on James 3
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Illustrated New Testament
- Burkitt’s Expository Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Family Bible Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- The People’s New Testament
- Robertson’s Word Pictures
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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