James 3:5

The tongue is a small body part that boasts great things, and a tiny spark can set a forest ablaze. Small words can produce enormous effects.

Cross-references · 22

• Prov 18:21Life and death are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.
• Jer 9:3–8“They bend their tongues like bows; lies prevail over truth in the land. For they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not take Me into account,” declares the LORD.
• Prov 12:18Speaking rashly is like a piercing sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.
• Prov 15:2The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouth of the fool spouts folly.
• Ps 17:10They have closed their callous hearts; their mouths speak with arrogance.
• Ps 73:8–9They mock and speak with malice; with arrogance they threaten oppression.
• Ps 12:2–4They lie to one another; they speak with flattering lips and a double heart.
• Ps 52:1–2For the choirmaster. A Maskil of David. After Doeg the Edomite went to Saul and told him, “David has gone to the house of Ahimelech.” Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man? The loving devotion of God endures all day long.
• Jude 1:16These men are discontented grumblers, following after their own lusts; their mouths spew arrogance; they flatter others for their own advantage.
• Jer 18:18Then some said, “Come, let us make plans against Jeremiah, for the law will never be lost to the priest, nor counsel to the wise, nor an oracle to the prophet. Come, let us denounce him and pay no heed to any of his words.”
• Rev 13:5–6The beast was given a mouth to speak arrogant and blasphemous words, and authority to act for 42 months.
• Ps 10:3For the wicked man boasts in the cravings of his heart; he blesses the greedy and reviles the LORD.
• Ezek 28:2“Son of man, tell the ruler of Tyre that this is what the Lord GOD says: Your heart is proud, and you have said, ‘I am a god; I sit in the seat of gods in the heart of the sea.’ Yet you are a man and not a god, though you have regarded your heart as that of a god.
• 2 Kgs 19:22–24Whom have you taunted and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel!
• 2 Pet 2:18With lofty but empty words, they appeal to the sensual passions of the flesh and entice those who are just escaping from others who live in error.
• Exod 15:9The enemy declared, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake. I will divide the spoils; I will gorge myself on them. I will draw my sword; my hand will destroy them.’
• Job 22:17They said to God, ‘Depart from us. What can the Almighty do to us?’
• Dan 4:30the king exclaimed, “Is this not Babylon the Great, which I myself have built by the might of my power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?”
• Job 21:14–15Yet they say to God: ‘Leave us alone! For we have no desire to know Your ways.
• Dan 3:15Now, if you are ready, as soon as you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes, and all kinds of music, you must fall down and worship the statue I have made. But if you refuse to worship, you will be thrown at once into the blazing fiery furnace. Then what god will be able to deliver you from my hands?”
• Exod 5:2But Pharaoh replied, “Who is the LORD that I should obey His voice and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and I will not let Israel go.”
• Ezek 29:3Speak to him and tell him that this is what the Lord GOD says: Behold, I am against you, O Pharaoh king of Egypt, O great monster who lies among his rivers, who says, ‘The Nile is mine; I made it myself.’

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.