James 3

World English Bible 119 include this book

1 Let not many of you be teachers, my brothers, knowing that we will receive heavier judgment.

2 For we all stumble in many things. Anyone who doesn’t stumble in word is a perfect person, able to bridle the whole body also.

3 Indeed, we put bits into the horses’ mouths so that they may obey us, and we guide their whole body.

4 Behold, the ships also, though they are so big and are driven by fierce winds, are yet guided by a very small rudder, wherever the pilot desires.

5 So the tongue is also a little member, and boasts great things. See how a small fire can spread to a large forest!

6 And the tongue is a fire. The world of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and is set on fire by Gehenna.

7 For every kind of animal, bird, creeping thing, and sea creature is tamed, and has been tamed by mankind;

8 but nobody can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

9 With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men who are made in the image of God.

10 Out of the same mouth comes blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.

11 Does a spring send out from the same opening fresh and bitter water?

12 Can a fig tree, my brothers, yield olives, or a vine figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh water.

13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by his good conduct that his deeds are done in gentleness of wisdom.

14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, don’t boast and don’t lie against the truth.

15 This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, sensual, and demonic.

16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition are, there is confusion and every evil deed.

17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceful, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

18 Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

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Where this was written

Not known unknown Traditionally associated with Jerusalem, but the letter gives no indication.

When this was written

Traditions differ. Each position is shown rather than one asserted as settled.

Traditional: 45 AD–62 AD James, the brother of Jesus
Often held to be the earliest New Testament writing, before the Jerusalem council.
Critical: 80 AD–100 AD Written in James' name
The polished Greek and the engagement with a settled Pauline vocabulary suggest a later hand.

Who ruled Rome

Emperors reigning while this book is dated. Where the traditions differ, they often fall under different rulers.

Critical

Titus 79 AD–81 AD
Commanded the army that destroyed the Jerusalem temple before becoming emperor.
Domitian 81 AD–96 AD
An autocratic reign under which Revelation is traditionally placed, on the testimony of Irenaeus.
Nerva 96 AD–98 AD
A brief reign that eased the pressures of Domitian's last years.
Trajan 98 AD–117 AD
His correspondence with Pliny the Younger is the earliest surviving statement of official Roman policy toward Christians.

Traditional

Claudius 41 AD–54 AD
Expelled Jews from Rome, which is why Priscilla and Aquila were in Corinth when Paul met them.
Nero 54 AD–68 AD
The fire of Rome in 64 was followed by the first state persecution of Christians. Paul and Peter are traditionally martyred in this reign.

Elsewhere in the world

Events overlapping the period this book is dated to (45 AD–100 AD).

1070 BC–350 AD The kingdom of Kush Africa
A Nubian power on the upper Nile that ruled Egypt itself as its twenty-fifth dynasty.
500 BC–500 AD The Nazca lines South America
Vast figures drawn on the Peruvian desert, visible only from the surrounding hills.
206 BC–220 AD The Han dynasty China
Four centuries of Chinese rule contemporary with the whole of Roman expansion.
150 BC–100 AD Roman concrete and the aqueducts Rome
Hydraulic concrete let Rome build harbours, domes and aqueducts that still stand.
100 BC–550 AD Teotihuacan Mesoamerica
A city of perhaps a hundred thousand people in the valley of Mexico, with monumental pyramids.
43 AD–84 AD Rome conquers Britain Britain
Claudius invaded and the province was gradually extended to the Scottish lowlands.
66 AD–73 AD First Jewish–Roman war Levant
Revolt against Rome ending in the destruction of the Jerusalem temple in AD 70 — the decisive rupture in Second Temple Judaism.
27 BC–100 AD Roman road and sea network matures Rome
Consolidated roads, harbours and suppressed piracy made long-distance travel unusually safe, a precondition for the rapid spread of early Christian communities.

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