James 3:6
And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is placed among our members, which defileth the whole body, and inflameth the wheel of our nativity, being set on fire by hell.
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- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Et lingua ignis est, universitas iniquitatis. Lingua constituitur in membris nostris, quæ maculat totum corpus, et inflammat rotam nativitatis nostræ inflammata a gehenna.
- Greek New Testament (SBLGNT)
- καὶ ἡ γλῶσσα πῦρ, ὁ κόσμος τῆς ἀδικίας ἡ γλῶσσα καθίσταται ἐν τοῖς μέλεσιν ἡμῶν, ἡ σπιλοῦσα ὅλον τὸ σῶμα καὶ φλογίζουσα τὸν τροχὸν τῆς γενέσεως καὶ φλογιζομένη ὑπὸ τῆς γεέννης.
Haydock's commentary
On verses 5 to 6
The tongue is indeed a little member, yet doth great things:2 causeth great evils and mischiefs, when it is not carefully governed; as a little fire,3 it kindleth and consumeth a great wood. It is a world of iniquity, the cause of infinite evils, dissensions, quarrels, seditions, wars, &c. It defileth the whole body, even the body politic of kingdoms. This fire, kindled by hell, sets all in a flame during the course of our lives, (literally, the wheel of our nativity ) from our cradle to our grave. (Witham)
2 Et magna exaltat, megalauchei; which is not only magnificè loqui et gloriari, but also magna facere.
3 Quantus ignis, for quantulus by the Greek, oligon pur.
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.