James 3
1 My Family, don’t have many of you become teachers, having understood that we will receive a more thorougha assessment 2 since we all stumble a lot. If anyone doesn’t stumble with what they say, they have arrivedb as an individual, being also able to guidec the whole body as if with a bridle. 3 If we bridle horses, putting bits in their mouths to persuade them for us, then we direct their whole bodies. 4 Look at ships too: while they are so large and driven by rough storm winds, they are directed by the smallest rudder wherever the impulse of the pilot wants. 5 In the same way, the tongue is a small part of the body yet acts as if it were big.
Look, such a small fire starts such a large forest burning. 6 The tongue is that fire. The tongue is the unjust world system showing up among the parts of our bodies when it contaminates the whole body, and it is ignited by the Hinnom Valley.d 7 Every kind of wild animal—even birds, reptiles, and sea creatures—is tamed and has been tamed by every human group, 8 but no one is able to tame the tongue of humans,e which is unstable, cruel,f and full of deadly poison. 9 We praiseg the Lord and Father with it, and we speak contemptuouslyh against people who are made according to the image of God with it. 10 Out of the same mouth comes praise and contempt. My Family, these things must not to become that way. 11 Would it be possible for a spring to gush with sweet and bitter water from the same opening? 12 My Family, can a fig tree produce olives or a vine produce figs? Saltwater can’t produce sweet water either.
13 Who is wise and knowledgeable among you? Have them show their actions by the kindi way they live with the gentleness that comes from wisdom.j 14 But if you have bitter competitiveness and self-promotionk in your heart,l do not boast of being better than othersm and tell lies against the truth. 15 This is not the wisdom that comes from above, but just the opposite, it’s from the ground, selfish,n demonic. 16 Where there is competitiveness and self-promotion, there is instability and every mean-spiritedo practice. 17 But the wisdom that’s truly from above is first pure,p then peaceable, equitable,q open-minded,r full of committed compassion and honorables fruit, nondiscriminatory, not acting under false pretenses. 18 The fruit—justness—is planted with peace between those who make peace.
FOOTNOTES:
a Literally, ‘bigger.’ Traditionally, ‘greater’
b More literally, ‘are completed’ or ‘have finished’ or ‘fully matured.’
c Literally, ‘lead by a bridle’
d Gehenna is the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew Ge Hinnom or ‘Valley of Hinnom’ where fiery infant sacrifice was made to the god Molech during the region’s polytheistic period. The Valley of Hinnom was also a gravesite and for a time, the Romans cremated corpses there. It may have also been a dumpsite since it was considered cursed after the long history of infant sacrifice. Ultimately, every reference to Gehenna is a reference to the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah 7-9 (and especially Jeremiah 7:30-34) and Jeremiah 19 (especially verses 1-13) carry much of that meaning, but references to the Valley of Hinnom (sometimes called the Valley of Ben Hinnom) are scattered throughout the book. The failure of Israel and Judah to be faithful to the Lord’s teachings in the Torah, led to the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple and the death and exile of its people to Babylon (as promised in Deuteronomy 28). The cost of not treating others how they would want to be treated (Matthew 7:12) was literal death by military action, disgrace (accursedness) by losing their sacred places and having corpses rot with no one to care for them, and destruction by being wiped out and scattered, having divine protection from the consequences of their own actions withheld. Additionally, the common teaching that there were perpetual fires there to burn the trash has no evidence to back it up and was only first proposed 1000 years after Jesus. Jeremiah 7 is about the impending invasion of the Babylonians to destroy Jerusalem and the temple just like the Assyrians invaded the northern kingdom of Israel and destroyed Shiloh and Samaria. Jesus is warning against perpetrating oppression and the people living with the values of power over others, violence, and exclusion of those who are deemed as less-than or outsiders, which will provoke the wrath of another invader and the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple: Rome. Jesus’ prediction happened approximately 40 years later in AD 70. Also, there was rabbinic teaching that used it as a metaphor and ‘Valley of Hinnom’ was used to describe a time of punishment after death; however, it was thought to be limited to a year, and the dead were given rest on each Sabbath. There is little evidence that the biblical writers had anything in mind like what modern Christians think of as Hell, which was not developed as a concept in the church for 200 years after Jesus, and even then was not like our current understanding until it was infused with European superstition in the Middle Ages.
e Or ‘no one among humanity is able to tame the tongue’
f Traditionally, ‘bad’ or ‘evil’
g Traditionally, ‘bless.’ This word, eulogeo, is not the same ‘bless’ as is used in the Beatittudes in Matthew 5, makarios. This word literally means to ‘speak well’ over someone, and it can refer to praising or to wishing them well for the future.
h Traditionally, ‘curse’ but it is not about a curse in the sense of magic or bad luck. It is about speaking contemptously about someone or a desire for harm to come to someone.
i Or ‘generous’ or ‘beautiful’ or ‘good’ or ‘respectable’
j Literally, ‘the gentleness of wisdom.’ This seems to be a genitive of production, implying that wisdom produces the gentleness.
k Traditionally, ‘selfishness.’ Literally, ‘electioneering.’
l Or ‘as your motivations’
m Traditionally, ‘boast’ but katakaukaomai is more specific than simply ‘boast.’ It is listed in the Cambridge Greek Lexicon (2021) as ‘lord it over.’ It’s translated here to communicate the more specific meaning as ‘boast of being better than others.’
n This word is traditionally either ‘unspiritual’ or ‘natural.’ However, it is psuchikos, the adjective form of psuche, ‘of or relating to the being/self/life/soul.’ The Cambridge Greek Lexicon (2021) lists it as 1) ‘of the soul’ (as opposed to the body), or 2) ‘of the mind.’ Since ‘soul’ would seem to need its own defining, ‘self’ seems the most relevant here.
o Traditionally, ‘evil.’ It is not the usual poneros that is typically translated as ‘evil’ but it is phaulos instead. According to The Cambridge Greek Lexicon (2021), it carries meanings such as ‘mean-spirited’ (related to blaming someone),’ ‘ordinary,’ ‘inadequate,’ ‘useless,’ disreputable,’ and ‘trivial.’ See other examples in John 3:20 and John 5:29.
p Or ‘sacred’ or ‘uncontaminated’
q The Cambridge Greek Lexicon (2021) notes this word is often paired with dikaios, ‘just.’
r Or ‘persuadable’ or ‘receptive’
s Or ‘good’ or ‘loyal’ or ‘noble’ or ‘capable’ or ‘esteemed’ or ‘beneficent’ or ‘benevolent’