James 3

My brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers. You know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.

1My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.

NoteThe King James "masters" means teachers, not owners or rulers; the word had that sense in 1611, as in "schoolmaster." James is warning against a rush to take up the teaching role in the assembly, and he includes himself: "we shall receive." The "greater condemnation" is a stricter standard of judgment, since a teacher is answerable for what he leads others to believe.

2We all slip up in many ways. If someone never says anything wrong, he is a complete man, able to keep his whole body under control.

2For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.

Note"Offend" in 1611 English means to trip or stumble, not to give offense or hurt someone's feelings; the Greek word is the ordinary one for stumbling. "A perfect man" translates a word meaning complete, finished, fully grown, so it describes maturity rather than flawlessness. "Bridle" starts the horse image that the next verse picks up.

3Look, we put metal bits in horses' mouths to make them obey us, and that lets us turn their whole body.

3Behold, we put bits in the horses’ mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body.

4Look at ships too. They are very large, and strong winds drive them, yet a very small rudder steers them wherever the pilot wants to go.

4Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth.

Note"Helm" is the rudder, and the "governor" is the steersman or pilot, the man handling it. "Listeth" is an old verb meaning wishes or chooses; it survives today only in the phrase "as he lists." Ancient cargo ships were steered by large oar-like rudders worked from the stern, tiny in comparison to the hull they turned.

5In the same way, the tongue is a small part of the body, yet it brags about big things. See how great a forest one small fire sets burning!

5Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!

Note"How great a matter a little fire kindleth" is easy to misread. "Matter" here is not a topic or affair but timber: the Greek word means wood or a forest. The picture is a spark setting a whole woodland alight.

6The tongue is a fire too, a whole world of wrongdoing. Set among the parts of our body, it stains the whole body. It sets the entire course of our life on fire, and it is itself set on fire by hell.

6And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.

Note"The course of nature" renders a Greek phrase that literally reads "the wheel of birth" or "the wheel of existence." It was a stock expression for the whole round of a person's life from start to finish, and ancient readers would also have heard the sound of a cartwheel that catches fire at the axle as it turns. "Hell" here is Gehenna, named for a ravine outside Jerusalem with a grim history, used by this period as a name for the place of final punishment.

7People can tame every kind of animal, bird, reptile, and sea creature, and people have tamed them.

7For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind:

Note"Serpents" covers creeping and crawling creatures generally, what we would call reptiles. The four categories, land animals, birds, creeping things and sea creatures, are the same four used in the creation account in Genesis, so the sentence is claiming humanity has tamed every class of living thing there is.

8But no one can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

8But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

9With it we praise God, our Father, and with the same tongue we call down curses on people, who were made to be like God.

9Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God.

Note"Similitude" simply means likeness, and the phrase echoes Genesis, where humans are made in God's image and likeness. To "curse" a person here is not foul language but calling down real harm on them, the formal opposite of blessing.

10Praise and cursing come out of the same mouth. My brothers and sisters, it should not be this way.

10Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.

11Does a spring pour out both fresh water and bitter water from the same opening?

11Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?

Note"Sweet" water means fresh, drinkable water; "bitter" means brackish or salt. This was a live problem in the region: springs around the Dead Sea and the Jordan valley could run salt or sulphurous, and a spring was known by which kind it gave. The point rests on the fact that one opening yields one kind.

12My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree grow olives? Can a grapevine grow figs? In the same way, no spring can give both salt water and fresh water.

12Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.

Note"Olive berries" is just the King James term for olives, the fruit of the olive tree. Figs, olives and grapes were the three staple fruit crops of the region, so the examples are drawn from what every hearer grew or bought.

13Is anyone among you wise and understanding? Then let him show it by the way he lives, doing good things with the humility that wisdom brings.

13Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.

Note"Conversation" in 1611 English did not mean talk. It meant a person's whole manner of life, how they conducted themselves day to day, and that is its regular sense throughout the King James New Testament. "Endued with knowledge" means equipped with understanding. "Meekness" translates a word for a humble, unaggressive temper, not timidity or weakness.

14But if you hold on to bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not brag about it and do not deny the truth.

14But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.

Note"Envying" here is jealousy, a fierce partisan zeal. "Strife" translates a Greek word that originally meant working for pay and came to mean self-seeking, the scheming of someone building a following for himself. "Glory not" means do not boast. "Lie not against the truth" means do not let the boast contradict the facts about yourself.

15That kind of wisdom does not come down from above. It is earthly, it comes from human cravings, and it comes from demons.

15This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.

Note"Sensual" is one of the most misleading words in this chapter for a modern reader. The Greek word means belonging to the natural human life, the life of appetite and instinct as opposed to the life given by God's Spirit. It carries no sexual meaning. "Devilish" translates a word meaning demonic, of the same kind as the demons.

16Wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there is disorder and every kind of evil act.

16For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.

Note"Confusion" translates a word meaning disorder, unrest, the instability of a group or a town in tumult. It is the same root as the "unruly" used of the tongue in verse 8, not mental muddle.

17But the wisdom that comes from above is first of all pure. Then it is peace-loving, gentle, and willing to give in. It is full of mercy and good results, fair to everyone, and honest.

17But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

Note"Easy to be intreated" means ready to be persuaded, willing to yield when someone makes a case; the modern sense of "entreat" as begging has pulled the phrase out of shape. "Without partiality" renders a Greek word that can mean either impartial, showing no favoritism, or undivided, without wavering; both readings are defensible and translators split over it. "Hypocrisy" comes from the Greek word for an actor playing a part on stage.

18And the harvest that comes from right living is planted in peace by those who work for peace.

18And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.

NoteThe image is farming: seed sown, then a crop. The Greek can be read two ways, that peacemakers sow the seed, or that the crop is sown for their benefit, and the grammar does not settle it. "Fruit of righteousness" can likewise mean the harvest that right living produces or the harvest that consists of right living.