1. My brothers and sisters, not many of you should be teachers. I say this because, as you know, we who teach will be judged more strictly than others.
2. We all make many mistakes. A person who never said anything wrong would be perfect. Someone like that would be able to control their whole body too.
3. We put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us. With these bits we can control their whole body.
4. It is the same with ships. A ship is very big, and it is pushed by strong winds. But a very small rudder controls that big ship. And the one who controls the rudder decides where the ship will go. It goes where he wants it to go.
5. It is the same with our tongue. It is a small part of the body, but it can boast about doing great things. A big forest fire can be started with only a little flame.
6. The tongue is like a fire. It is a world of evil among the parts of our body. It spreads its evil through our whole body and starts a fire that influences all of life. It gets this fire from hell.
7. Humans have control over every kind of wild animal, bird, reptile, and fish, and they have controlled all these things.
8. But no one can control the tongue. It is wild and evil, full of deadly poison.
9. We use our tongues to praise our Lord and Father, but then we curse people who were created in God’s likeness.