James 3:8 BSB — MannaFest

James 3:8

but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

but the tongue can no man tame; it is a restless evil, it is full of deadly poison.

KJV

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

⋯

Commentary

2 voices

Bede

Commentary on the Catholic Epistles (735)

However, no man can tame the tongue. This sentence can be correctly understood in two ways: both that none of the good teachers can tame the tongues of those who neglect to restrain themselves from foolish prattling, and that there is no speaker who does …

The record, by era

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible (1832)

But the tongue wan no man tame - No cunning, persuasion, or influence has ever been able to silence it. Nothing but the grace of God, excision, or death, can bring it under subjection. It is an unruly evil - Ακατασχετον κακον· An evil that cannot be restrained; it cannot be brought under any kind of government; it breaks all bounds. Full of deadly poison - He refers here to the tongues of serpents, supposed to be the means of conveying their poison into wounds made by their teeth.

Voices on this verse

loading…

Original language & word study

12 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
τὴν	tēn	the	G3588 →
δὲ	de	but	G1161 →
γλῶσσαν	glōssan	tongue	G1100 →
οὐδεὶς	oudeis	no [one]	G3762 →
δαμάσαι	damasai	to subdue	G1150 →
δύναται	dunatai	is able	G1410 →
ἀνθρώπων·	anthrōpōn	of men;	G444 →
ἀκατάστατον	akatastaton	[it is] an unruly	G182 →
κακόν,	kakon	evil,	G2556 →
μεστὴ	mestē	full	G3324 →
ἰοῦ	iou	of poison	G2447 →
θανατηφόρου.	thanatēphorou	deadly.	G2287 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
James 3:6
The tongue also is a fire, a world of wickedness among the parts of the body. It pollutes the whole person, sets the course of his life on fire, and is itself set on…
leads to
- Psalms 120:2–3
  Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips and a deceitful tongue.
- Proverbs 16:27
  A worthless man digs up evil, and his speech is like a scorching fire.
- Mark 7:15
  Nothing that enters a man from the outside can defile him; but the things that come out of a man, these are what defile him.”
- Matthew 15:11–20
  A man is not defiled by what enters his mouth, but by what comes out of it.”
- Proverbs 15:1
  A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
Through
Romans 3:13
“Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The venom of vipers is on their lips.”
leads to
- Psalms 5:9
  For not a word they speak can be trusted; destruction lies within them. Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.
- Psalms 140:3
  They sharpen their tongues like snakes; the venom of vipers is on their lips. Selah
Through
Psalms 55:21
His speech is smooth as butter, but war is in his heart. His words are softer than oil, yet they are swords unsheathed.
leads to
- Psalms 57:4
  My soul is among the lions; I lie down with ravenous beasts— with men whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords.
  Reached by 2 independent paths from here.

Featured studies on this passage

On James 3:8

The Tongue — Death and Life in Proverbs

Open the study →

Walks through James 3

Afterlife Vocabulary

Sheol, Hades, Gehenna, Tartarus, the Abyss, and Paradise — six words English hid inside one, disambiguated and sourced.

Open the study →

Walks through James 3

Fire

Open the study →

About James

The Feeding of the Multitude — Gustave Doré (engraving, public domain)

James: the study guide →Read chapter 3 →The featured study →

Continue: James 3 →

01Commentary

The record, by era

Voices on this verse

02Original language & word study

03The walk

Where the connections lead

04Related verses

05Featured studies on this passage

06About James

The record, by era

Where the connections lead

Commentary

Original language & word study

The walk

Related verses

Featured studies on this passage

About James