James 3:4-6

New Testament for Everyone

⁴ Consider, too, the case of large ships; it takes strong winds to blow them along, but one small rudder will turn them whichever way the helmsman desires and decides. ⁵ In the same way, the tongue is a little member but boasts great things. See how small a fire it takes to set a large forest ablaze! ⁶ And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is a world of injustice, with its place established right there among our members. It defiles the whole body; it sets the wheel of nature ablaze, and is itself set ablaze by hell.