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Time after Pentecost · Proper 19 · Year B

James 3:1-12

Taming the Tongue

September 12, 2027

The Tower of Babel (Vienna), Pieter Bruegel the Elder
The Tower of Babel (Vienna), Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1563Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
A tower built like a Roman amphitheatre spiralling into cloud, with the lower storeys already crumbling while the top is still going up.The tongue is a fire. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing.Pieter Bruegel the ElderThe great painter of Netherlandish peasant life (c. 1525-1569), who put proverbs, seasons and crowds on canvas with an eye that is affectionate and entirely unsentimental.Kunsthistorisches Museum, ViennaThe Habsburg collection, assembled over four centuries and housed in a purpose-built palace on the Ringstrasse since 1891.Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
LSB Three-Year Lectionary
GospelMark 9:14-29Mk 9:14-29
EpistleJas. 3:1-12Jas 3:1-12
Old TestamentIsa. 50:4-10Is 50:4-10
PsalterPs. 116:1-9Ps 116:1-9

Overview & Insights

"How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! And the tongue is a fire." (James 3:5-6)

James warns that teachers face stricter judgment and that the tongue, though small, has vast power to bless or destroy. He calls for consistency so that blessing and cursing do not pour from the same mouth.

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Take it further: James 3:1-12

Commentary

Working Preacher: Commentary on James 3:1-12Working Preacher: Commentary on Jas 3:1-12 Working Preacher

Lutheran lectionary commentary on the power of the tongue.

Enduring Word: James 3Enduring Word: Jas 3 Enduring Word · David Guzik

David Guzik's verse-by-verse evangelical notes on the whole chapter.

Precept Austin: James 3 CommentaryPrecept Austin: Jas 3 Commentary Precept Austin

Study page gathering many commentators on taming the tongue.

BibleHub: Commentaries on James 3:1BibleHub: Commentaries on Jas 3:1 BibleHub

Parallel classic commentaries keyed to the warning to teachers.

StudyLight: James 3 CommentariesStudyLight: Jas 3 Commentaries StudyLight

Many complete commentaries on James 3 gathered on one passage page.

Background & Word Study

BibleProject: James OverviewBibleProject: Jas Overview BibleProject

Animated overview of the themes and structure of James.

BibleHub: James 3 InterlinearBibleHub: Jas 3 Interlinear BibleHub

Greek-English interlinear for word-level study of the chapter.

The Church Fathers

Catena: James 3Catena: Jas 3 Catena

Patristic comments gathered verse by verse on James 3.

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