Lectionary Calendar
Monday, April 28th, 2025
the Second Week after Easter
Attention!
For 10¢ a day you can enjoy StudyLight.org ads
free while helping to build churches and support pastors in Uganda.
Click here to learn more!

Read the Bible

Easy-to-Read Version

James 3:10

These praises and curses come from the same mouth. My brothers and sisters, this should not happen.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Blasphemy;   Speaking;   Thompson Chain Reference - Blasphemy-Profanity;   Cursing;   Inconsistency;   Religion;   Religion, True-False;   The Topic Concordance - Servants;   Speech/communication;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Blessing;   Gossip;   Tongue;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Sanctification;   Word;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Balaam;   James, the General Epistle of;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Double-Tongued;   James, the Letter;   Tongue;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Hosea;   James, Epistle of;   Law;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Benediction ;   James Epistle of;   Metaphor;   Mouth Lips;   Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - 36 Ought Must;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Kingdom or Church of Christ, the;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Blessing;   Busybody;   James, Epistle of;  

Devotionals:

- Daily Light on the Daily Path - Devotion for January 5;   Every Day Light - Devotion for May 12;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Blessing and cursing come out of the same mouth. My brothers and sisters, these things should not be this way.
King James Version (1611)
Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing: my brethren, these things ought not so to be.
King James Version
Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.
English Standard Version
From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.
New American Standard Bible
from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, these things should not be this way.
New Century Version
Praises and curses come from the same mouth! My brothers and sisters, this should not happen.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.
Berean Standard Bible
Out of the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, this should not be!
Complete Jewish Bible
Out of the same mouth come blessing and cursing! Brothers, it isn't right for things to be this way.
Darby Translation
Out of the same mouth goes forth blessing and cursing. It is not right, my brethren, that these things should be thus.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Out of one mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing: my brethren, these things ought not so to be.
George Lamsa Translation
Out of the same mouth proceed curses and blessings. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.
Good News Translation
Words of thanksgiving and cursing pour out from the same mouth. My friends, this should not happen!
Lexham English Bible
From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so!
Literal Translation
Out of the same mouth comes forth blessing and cursing. My brothers, it is not fitting for these things to be so.
Amplified Bible
Out of the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. These things, my brothers, should not be this way [for we have a moral obligation to speak in a manner that reflects our fear of God and profound respect for His precepts].
American Standard Version
out of the same mouth cometh forth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.
Bible in Basic English
Out of the same mouth comes blessing and cursing. My brothers, it is not right for these things to be so.
Hebrew Names Version
Out of the same mouth comes forth blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.
International Standard Version
From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. It should not be like this, my brothers!
Etheridge Translation
and from the same mouth go forth curses and blessings. My brethren, it is not fit that these should so be done.
Murdock Translation
and from the same mouth, proceed curses and blessings. My brethren, these things ought not to be so.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Out of one mouth proceadeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these thynges ought not so to be.
English Revised Version
out of the same mouth cometh forth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.
World English Bible
Out of the same mouth comes forth blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.
Wesley's New Testament (1755)
Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.
Weymouth's New Testament
Out of the same mouth there proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, this ought not to be.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Of the same mouth passith forth blessing and cursing. My britheren, it bihoueth not that these thingis be don so.
Update Bible Version
out of the same mouth comes forth blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.
Webster's Bible Translation
Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.
New English Translation
From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. These things should not be so, my brothers and sisters.
New King James Version
Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so.
New Living Translation
And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right!
New Life Bible
Giving thanks and speaking bad words come from the same mouth. My Christian brothers, this is not right!
New Revised Standard
From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Out of the same mouth, come forth blessing and cursing! Not meet, my brethren, for, these things, thus, to be coming to pass!
Douay-Rheims Bible
Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.
Revised Standard Version
From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brethren, this ought not to be so.
Tyndale New Testament (1525)
Out of one mouth proceadeth blessynge and cursynge. My brethren these thinges ought not so to be.
Young's Literal Translation
out of the same mouth doth come forth blessing and cursing; it doth not need, my brethren, these things so to happen;
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Out of one mouth proceadeth blessynge and cursynge. My brethre these thinges ought not so to be.
Mace New Testament (1729)
from the same mouth shall blessing and cursing proceed? this ought not to be practis'd, my brethren;
Simplified Cowboy Version
Ain't no reason in the world why blessings and curses should come out of the same hole in your face.

Contextual Overview

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. 10 These praises and curses come from the same mouth. My brothers and sisters, this should not happen.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

of: Psalms 50:16-20, Jeremiah 7:4-10, Micah 3:11, Romans 12:14, 1 Peter 3:9

these: Genesis 20:9, 2 Samuel 13:12, 1 Corinthians 3:3, 1 Timothy 5:13

Reciprocal: Genesis 34:7 - thing Leviticus 4:2 - which ought Numbers 23:13 - and curse me Deuteronomy 22:9 - shalt not sow Job 31:30 - mouth Jeremiah 6:7 - a fountain Luke 6:28 - Bless Luke 9:55 - Ye know Romans 3:14 - General 1 Timothy 3:8 - doubletongued

Cross-References

Genesis 2:25
The man and his wife were naked, but they were not ashamed.
Genesis 3:7
Then it was as if their eyes opened, and they saw things differently. They saw that they were naked. So they got some fig leaves, sewed them together, and wore them for clothes.
Genesis 3:17
Then God said to the man, "I commanded you not to eat from that tree. But you listened to your wife and ate from it. So I will curse the ground because of you. You will have to work hard all your life for the food the ground produces.
Genesis 3:18
The ground will grow thorns and weeds for you. And you will have to eat the plants that grow wild in the fields.
Exodus 3:6
I am the God of your ancestors. I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Moses covered his face because he was afraid to look at God.
Exodus 32:25
Moses saw that Aaron had let the people get out of control. They were being wild, and all their enemies could see them acting like fools.
Job 23:15
That is why I am terrified to stand before him. Just thinking about it makes me afraid.
Psalms 119:120
I am shaking with fear before you. I fear and respect your judgments.
Isaiah 33:14
The sinners in Zion are afraid. Those who do wrong shake with fear. They say, "Can any of us live through this fire that destroys? Who can live near this fire that burns forever?"
Isaiah 47:3
Men will see your naked body and use you for sex. I will make you pay for the bad things you did, and I will not let anyone help you.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing,.... Which is not only a contradiction, but unnatural, as well as wicked and sinful:

my brethren, these things ought not so to be: in any, and much less in professors of religion: such things are unbecoming men, are a scandal upon human nature, and exceeding unworthy of the Christian name; see Psalms 50:16.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing - The meaning here may be, either that out of the mouth of man two such opposite things proceed, not referring to the same individual, but to different persons; or, out of the mouth of the same individual. Both of these are true; and both are equally incongruous and wrong. No organ should be devoted to uses so unlike, and the mouth should be employed in giving utterance only to that which is just, benevolent, and good. It is true, however, that the mouth is devoted to these opposite employments; and that while one part of the race employ it for purposes of praise, the other employ it in uttering maledictions. It is also true of many individuals that at one time they praise their Maker, and then, with the same organ, calumniate, and slander, and revile their fellow-men. After an act of solemn devotion in the house of God, the professed worshipper goes forth with the feelings of malice in his heart, and the language of slander, detraction, or even blasphemy on his lips.

My brethren, these things ought not so to be - They are as incongruous as it would be for the same fountain to send forth both salt water and fresh; or for the same tree to bear different kinds of fruit.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 10. Out of the same mouth — This saying is something like that, Proverbs 18:21: Death and life are in the power of the tongue; and on this, for an illustration of St. James' words, hear Vayikra Rabba, sec. 33: "Rabbi Simeon, the son of Gamaliel, said to his servant Tobias, Go and bring me some good food from the market: the servant went, and he bought tongues. At another time he said to the same servant, Go and buy me some bad food: the servant went, and bought tongues. The master said, What is the reason that when I ordered thee to buy me good and bad food, thou didst bring tongues? The servant answered, From the tongue both good and evil come to man: if it be good, there is nothing better; if bad, there is nothing worse."

A saying very like that of St. James as found in Rabbi Tanchum, fol. 10, 4: "The mouth desires to study in the law, and to speak good words; to praise God, to glorify him, and to celebrate him with hymns: but it can also slander, blaspheme, reproach, and swear falsely." See Schoettgen.

To find a man who officiates in sacred things to be a common swearer, a slanderer, c., is truly monstrous but there have been many cases of this kind, and I have known several. Let me say to all such, My brethren, these things ought not so to be.


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile