雅各書 3
1 我的弟兄們，你們作教師的人，不要太多，該知道我們作教師的，要受更嚴厲的審判。
Do not be eager, my brethren, for many among you to become teachers; for you know that we teachers shall undergo severer judgement.
2 實在，我們眾人都犯許多過失；誰若在言語上不犯過失，他便是個完人，也必能控制全身。
For we often stumble and fall, all of us. If there is any one who never stumbles in speech, that man has reached maturity of character and is able to curb his whole nature.
3 試看，我們把嚼環放在馬嘴裏，就可叫牠們順服我們，調動牠們的全身。
Remember that we put the horses' bit into their mouths to make them obey us, and so we turn their whole bodies round.
4 又看，船隻雖然很大，又為大風所吹動，只用小小的舵，便會隨掌舵者的意思往前轉動；
So too with ships, great as they are, and often driven along by strong gales, yet they can be steered with a very small rudder in whichever direction the caprice of the man at the helm chooses.
5 同樣，舌頭雖然是一個小小的肢體，卻能誇大。看，小小的火，能燃著廣大的樹林！
In the same way the tongue is an insignificant part of the body, but it is immensely boastful. Remember how a mere spark may set a vast forest in flames.
And the tongue is a fire. That world of iniquity, the tongue, is placed within us spotting and soiling our whole nature, and setting the whole round of our lives on fire, being itself set on fire by Gehenna. (Geenna g1067)
7 各類的走獸、飛禽、爬蟲、水族，都可以馴服，且已被人類馴服了；
For brute nature under all its forms--beasts and birds, reptiles and fishes--can be subjected and kept in subjection by human nature.
8 至於舌頭，卻沒有人能夠馴服，且是個不止息的惡物，滿含致死的毒汁。
But the tongue no man or woman is able to tame. It is an ever-busy mischief, and is full of deadly poison.
9 我們用它讚頌上主和父，也用它詛咒那照天主的肖像而受造的人；
With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who are made in God's likeness.
10 讚頌與詛咒竟從同一口裏發出！我的弟兄們，這事決不該這樣！
Out of the same mouth there proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, this ought not to be.
11 泉源豈能從同一孔穴，湧出甜水和苦水來？
In a fountain, are fresh water and bitter sent forth from the same opening?
12 我的弟兄們，無花果樹豈能結橄欖，或者葡萄樹豈能結無花果？鹹水也不能產生甜水。
Can a fig-tree, my brethren, yield olives, or a vine yield figs? No; and neither can salt water yield sweet.
13 你們中誰是有智慧，有見識的呢？讓他用好品行，彰顯他的行為是出於智慧的溫和！
Which of you is a wise and well-instructed man? Let him prove it by a right life with conduct guided by a wisely teachable spirit.
14 若你們心裏懷有惡毒的嫉妒和紛爭，就不可誇耀，不可說謊違反真理。
But if in your hearts you have bitter feelings of envy and rivalry, do not speak boastfully and falsely, in defiance of the truth.
15 這種智慧不是從上而來的，而是屬於下地的，屬於血肉的，屬於魔鬼的；
That is not the wisdom which comes down from above: it belongs to earth, to the unspiritual nature, and to evil spirits.
16 因為那裏有嫉妒和紛爭，那裏就有擾亂和種種惡行。
For where envy and rivalry are, there also are unrest and every vile deed.
17 至於從上而來的智慧，它首先是純潔的，其次是和平的，寬仁的，柔順的，滿有仁慈和善果的，不偏不倚的，沒有偽善的。
The wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peaceful, courteous, not self-willed, full of compassion and kind actions, free from favouritism and from all insincerity.
18 為締造和平的人，正義 的果實，乃是在和平中種植的。
And peace, for those who strive for peace, is the seed of which the harvest is righteousness.
