James 3:6

And the tongue is a fire! The tongue represents ¹  the world of wrongdoing among the parts of our bodies. It ²  pollutes the entire body and sets fire to the course of human existence – and is set on fire by hell. ³ 

Ge 3:4-6; Le 24:11; Nu 25:2; Nu 31:16; De 13:6; Jud 12:4-6; Jud 16:15-20; 1Sa 22:9-17; 2Sa 13:26-29; 2Sa 15:2-6; 2Sa 16:20-23; 2Sa 17:1,2; 2Sa 19:43; 2Sa 20:1; 1Ki 21:5-15; 2Ch 10:13-16; 2Ch 13:17; Ps 64:3; Ps 140:3; Pr 1:10-14; Pr 6:19; Pr 7:5,21-23; Pr 15:1; Pr 16:27; Pr 26:20,21; Isa 30:27; Jer 20:10; Jer 28:16; Mt 12:24,32-36; Mt 15:11-20; Mr 7:15,20-22; Mr 14:55-57; Lu 16:24; Ac 5:3; Ac 6:13; Ac 20:30; Ro 3:13,14; Ro 16:17,18; 2Co 11:13-15; Eph 5:3,4; Col 3:8,9; 2Th 2:9; 2Th 2:10-12; Tit 1:11; Jas 2:7; 2Pe 2:1,2; 2Pe 3:3; 3Jo 1:10; Jude 1:8-10,15-18; Re 2:14,15; Re 12:9; Re 13:1-5,14; Re 18:23; Re 19:20

¹ tn Grk “makes itself,” “is made.”

² tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

³ sn The word translated hell is “Gehenna” (γέεννα, geenna), a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew words ge hinnom (“Valley of Hinnom”). This was the valley along the south side of Jerusalem. In OT times it was used for human sacrifices to the pagan god Molech (cf. Jer 7:31; 19:5-6; 32:35), and it came to be used as a place where human excrement and rubbish were disposed of and burned. In the intertestamental period, it came to be used symbolically as the place of divine punishment (cf. 1 En. 27:2, 90:26; 4 Ezra 7:36).