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Selected Verse: James 3:8 - King James
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Jas 3:8 |
King James |
But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
no man--literally, "no one of men": neither can a man control his neighbor's, nor even his own tongue. Hence the truth of Jam 3:2 appears.
unruly evil--The Greek, implies that it is at once restless and incapable of restraint. Nay, though nature has hedged it in with a double barrier of the lips and teeth, it bursts from its barriers to assail and ruin men [ESTIUS].
deadly--literally, "death-bearing." |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
But the tongue can no man tame - This does not mean that it is never brought under control, but that it is impossible effectually and certainly to subdue it. It would be possible to subdue and domesticate any kind of beasts, but this could not be done with the tongue.
It is an unruly evil - An evil without restraint, to which no certain and effectual check can be applied. Of the truth of this no one can have any doubt, who looks at the condition of the world.
Full of deadly poison - That is, it acts on the happiness of man, and on the peace of society, as poison does on the human frame. The allusion here seems to be to the bite of a venomous reptile. Compare Psa 140:3, "They have sharpened their tongues like serpent; adders" poison is under their lips." Rom 3:13, "with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips." Nothing would better describe the mischief that may be done by the tongue. There is no sting of a serpent that does so much evil in the world; there is no poison more deadly to the frame than the poison of the tongue is to the happiness of man. Who, for example, can stand before the power of the slanderer? What mischief can be done in society that can be compared with that which he may do?
- 'Tis slander;
Whose edge is sharper than the sword; whose tongue
Outvenoms all the worms of Nile; whose breath
Rides on the posting winds, and doth belie
All corners of the world: kings, queens, and states,
Maids, matrons, nay, the secrets of the grave
This viperous slander enters.
Shakespeare in Cymbellna. |
| Vincent's Word Studies, by Marvin R. Vincent [1886] |
No man (οὐδεὶς ἀνθρώπων)
A strong expression. Lit., no on of men.
Unruly (ἀκατάσχετον)
Lit., not to be held back. The proper reading, however, is ἀκατάστατον, unsettled. See on καθίσταται, hath its place, Jam 3:6. Rev., correctly, restless.
Deadly (θανατηφόρου)
Lit., death-bearing, or-bringing. Only here in New Testament.
Poison (ἰοῦ)
Rendered rust at Jam 5:3; and found only in these two passages and in Rom 3:13, in the citation of Psa 140:3. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| But no man can tame the tongue - Of another; no, nor his own, without peculiar help from God. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
But the tongue wan no man tame - No cunning, persuasion, or influence has ever been able to silence it. Nothing but the grace of God, excision, or death, can bring it under subjection.
It is an unruly evil - Ακατασχετον κακον· An evil that cannot be restrained; it cannot be brought under any kind of government; it breaks all bounds.
Full of deadly poison - He refers here to the tongues of serpents, supposed to be the means of conveying their poison into wounds made by their teeth. Throughout the whole of this poetic and highly declamatory description, St. James must have the tongue of the slanderer, calumniator, backbiter, whisperer, and tale-bearer, particularly in view. Vipers, basilisks; and rattlesnakes are not more dangerous to life, than these are to the peace and reputation of men. |
2 For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.
13 Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:
3 They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent; adders' poison is under their lips. Selah.
3 They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent; adders' poison is under their lips. Selah.
13 Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.