3:1 Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, for you know that we who teach shall be judged with greater strictness. 3:2 For we all make many mistakes, and if any one makes no mistakes in what he says he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body also. 3:3 If we put bits into the mouths of horses that they may obey us, we guide their whole bodies. 3:4 Look at the ships also; though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. 3:5 So the tongue is a little member and boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! 3:6 And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is an unrighteous world among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the cycle of nature, and set on fire by hell. 3:7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by humankind, 3:8 but no human being can tame the tongue--a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 3:9 With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who are made in the likeness of God. 3:10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brethren, this ought not to be so. 3:11 Does a spring pour forth from the same opening fresh water and brackish? 3:12 Can a fig tree, my brethren, yield olives, or a grapevine figs? No more can salt water yield fresh.