James 3:9
New International Version
With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness.

New Living Translation
Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God.

English Standard Version
With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.

Berean Standard Bible
With the tongue we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness.

Berean Literal Bible
With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, those being made according to the likeness of God.

King James Bible
Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God.

New King James Version
With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God.

New American Standard Bible
With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people, who have been made in the likeness of God;

NASB 1995
With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God;

NASB 1977
With it we bless our Lord and Father; and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God;

Legacy Standard Bible
With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God.

Amplified Bible
With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God.

Christian Standard Bible
With the tongue we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in God’s likeness.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
We praise our Lord and Father with it, and we curse men who are made in God’s likeness with it.

American Standard Version
Therewith bless we the Lord and Father; and therewith curse we men, who are made after the likeness of God:

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
With it we bless THE LORD JEHOVAH and The Father; with it we curse the children of men who are made in the image of God.

Douay-Rheims Bible
By it we bless God and the Father: and by it we curse men, who are made after the likeness of God.

English Revised Version
Therewith bless we the Lord and Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the likeness of God:

GOD'S WORD® Translation
With our tongues we praise our Lord and Father. Yet, with the same tongues we curse people, who were created in God's likeness.

Good News Translation
We use it to give thanks to our Lord and Father and also to curse other people, who are created in the likeness of God.

International Standard Version
With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in God's likeness.

Literal Standard Version
with it we bless the God and Father, and with it we curse the men made according to [the] likeness of God;

Majority Standard Bible
With the tongue we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness.

New American Bible
With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings who are made in the likeness of God.

NET Bible
With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse people made in God's image.

New Revised Standard Version
With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God.

New Heart English Bible
With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people, who are made in the image of God.

Webster's Bible Translation
With this we bless God, even the Father; and with this we curse men, who are made after the similitude of God.

Weymouth New Testament
With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who are made in God's likeness.

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

Young's Literal Translation
with it we do bless the God and Father, and with it we do curse the men made according to the similitude of God;

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Taming the Tongue
8but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9With the tongue we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10Out of the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, this should not be!…

Cross References
Genesis 1:26
Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness, to rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, and over all the earth itself and every creature that crawls upon it."

1 Corinthians 11:7
A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man.

James 1:27
Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

James 3:10
Out of the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, this should not be!


Treasury of Scripture

Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God.

Therewith.

Psalm 16:9
Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope.

Psalm 30:12
To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.

Psalm 35:28
And my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness and of thy praise all the day long.

bless.

1 Chronicles 29:10,20
Wherefore David blessed the LORD before all the congregation: and David said, Blessed be thou, LORD God of Israel our father, for ever and ever…

Psalm 34:1
A Psalm of David, when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech; who drove him away, and he departed. I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

Psalm 63:4
Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name.

therewith curse.

Judges 9:27
And they went out into the fields, and gathered their vineyards, and trode the grapes, and made merry, and went into the house of their god, and did eat and drink, and cursed Abimelech.

2 Samuel 16:5
And when king David came to Bahurim, behold, thence came out a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera: he came forth, and cursed still as he came.

2 Samuel 19:21
But Abishai the son of Zeruiah answered and said, Shall not Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed the LORD'S anointed?

made.

Genesis 1:26,27
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth…

Genesis 5:1
This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him;

Genesis 9:6
Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.

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James 3
1. We are not rashly or arrogantly to reprove others;
5. but rather to bridle the tongue, a little member,
9. but a powerful instrument of much good, and great harm.
13. The truly wise are mild and peaceable, without envy and strife.














(9) Therewith bless we God, even the Father.--A strange reading of this verse in the more ancient manuscripts makes it, Therewith bless we the Lord and Father. And it may serve to remind us of the oneness of our God, that thus He may be termed Lord and Saviour. His worship and praise are, as explained under James 3:6, the right use of the tongue; but, most inconsistently, therewith curse we men which have been made in the image, after the similitude, of God. See Ps. 1. 16-23, with its final words of warning to the wicked, and praise "to him that ordereth his conversation right."

The "likeness of God" assuredly remains in the most abandoned and fallen; and to curse it is to invoke the wrath of its Creator. What then can be urged in defence of anathemas and fulminations of councils, or the mutual execrations of sects and schisms, in the light of these solemn words? "Though they curse, yet bless thou . . . and let them cover themselves with their own confusion" (Psalm 109:28-29).

Verses 9, 10. - Examples of the restless character of the tongue: "With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it too we curse men who are made in his image." In the first clause we should read Κύριον (א, A, B, C, Coptic, Syriac, ff, and some manuscripts of the Vulgate) for Θεόν (Receptus, with K, L, and Vulgate). Made after the similitude of God; better, likeness (ὁμοίωσις). The words, which are taken from Genesis 1:26 (καὶ εῖπεν ὁ Θεὸς ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον κατ εἰκόνα ἡμετέραν καὶ καθ ὁμοιώσιν) are added to show the greatness of the sin. Theologically they are important, as showing that the "likeness of God" in man (in whatever it may consist) was not entirely obliterated by the Fall. St. James's words would be meaningless if only Adam had been created in the image and likeness of God. So St. Paul speaks of fallen man as still "the image (εἰκών) and glory of God" (1 Corinthians 11:7; and cf. Genesis 9:6).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
With
Ἐν (En)
Preposition
Strong's 1722: In, on, among. A primary preposition denoting position, and instrumentality, i.e. A relation of rest; 'in, ' at, on, by, etc.

[the tongue]
αὐτῇ (autē)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Dative Feminine 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 846: He, she, it, they, them, same. From the particle au; the reflexive pronoun self, used of the third person, and of the other persons.

we bless
εὐλογοῦμεν (eulogoumen)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 1st Person Plural
Strong's 2127: (lit: I speak well of) I bless; pass: I am blessed. From a compound of eu and logos; to speak well of, i.e. to bless.

our
τὸν (ton)
Article - Accusative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

Lord
Κύριον (Kyrion)
Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular
Strong's 2962: Lord, master, sir; the Lord. From kuros; supreme in authority, i.e. controller; by implication, Master.

and
καὶ (kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

Father,
Πατέρα (Patera)
Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3962: Father, (Heavenly) Father, ancestor, elder, senior. Apparently a primary word; a 'father'.

and
καὶ (kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

with
ἐν (en)
Preposition
Strong's 1722: In, on, among. A primary preposition denoting position, and instrumentality, i.e. A relation of rest; 'in, ' at, on, by, etc.

it
αὐτῇ (autē)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Dative Feminine 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 846: He, she, it, they, them, same. From the particle au; the reflexive pronoun self, used of the third person, and of the other persons.

we curse
καταρώμεθα (katarōmetha)
Verb - Present Indicative Middle or Passive - 1st Person Plural
Strong's 2672: To curse. Middle voice from katara; to execrate; by analogy, to doom.

men,
ἀνθρώπους (anthrōpous)
Noun - Accusative Masculine Plural
Strong's 444: A man, one of the human race. From aner and ops; man-faced, i.e. A human being.

who
τοὺς (tous)
Article - Accusative Masculine Plural
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

have been made
γεγονότας (gegonotas)
Verb - Perfect Participle Active - Accusative Masculine Plural
Strong's 1096: A prolongation and middle voice form of a primary verb; to cause to be, i.e. to become, used with great latitude.

in
καθ’ (kath’)
Preposition
Strong's 2596: A primary particle; down, in varied relations (genitive, dative or accusative) with which it is joined).

God’s
Θεοῦ (Theou)
Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 2316: A deity, especially the supreme Divinity; figuratively, a magistrate; by Hebraism, very.

likeness.
ὁμοίωσιν (homoiōsin)
Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 3669: Making like, likeness, resemblance. From homoioo; assimilation, i.e. Resemblance.


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NT Letters: James 3:9 With it we bless our God (Ja Jas. Jam)
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