3 Consider that we put bits in horses' mouths that they may obey us, and we guide their whole body.
4 Consider also the ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the impulse of the pilot desires.
5 Even so the tongue is a small member and it boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles!
6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. Thus the tongue is set among our members, as that which defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell.
7 For every kind of both beasts and birds, of both reptiles and sea creatures, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind.
8 But no man can tame the tongue. [It] is an unrestrainable evil, full of deadly poison.