James concludes the comparison of the bit and the rudder. The bit and the rudder, though small in size, achieve big results. So it is with the tongue; though small it is extremely powerful.
So the tongue is a little member and boasts of great things: the verse may be punctuated in different ways. What Revised Standard Version has done is one possibility. The other possibility is the rendering of Good News Translation: “So it is with the tongue; small as it is, it can boast about great things” (similarly Revised English Bible). Stylistically the latter is preferable, as it is a more natural way to introduce an application. The adverb So in Greek is actually “So also” (New Revised Standard Version); so it has the force of “In the same way” (New American Bible) and “So it is” (Good News Translation), drawing a comparison. The expression little member refers to the tongue as a small part of the body. Contemporary English Version translates “our tongues are small too.” The conjunction and has the force of “yet” (New Revised Standard Version) or “nevertheless.”
Scholars debate about the exact meaning of boasts of great things. The verb rendered boasts is “to stretch the neck and hold up the head in pride, and hence to speak with proud confidence” (Hort). It is sometimes argued that the boast refers not so much to arrogance or empty boasting, but to a justifiable sense of importance and pride. However, James obviously sees the tongue as something that is dangerous and that therefore has to be controlled. It is therefore difficult not to take “boasting” in this context as having a negative sense. For this reason some translators have tried to bring this aspect of the meaning out; for example, “but it [tongue] is a great braggart” (Translator’s New Testament) or “and yet they [our tongues] brag about big things” (Contemporary English Version). In some languages the tone can be brought out adequately by saying simply, “the tongue, though so small, can say [or, brag] big things” (similarly Today’s Chinese Version). Notice that James is making an obvious attempt to contrast little member with great things.
Some scholars have observed that this last analogy is a bit rough, as it does not follow consistently the pattern of the previous two analogies. Human tongues do not control human bodies as bits and rudders control horses and ships. But there is no need to look for exact correspondence in the analogy, since this does not seem to be James’ concern. He is simply interested in showing that a small object can control or determine the direction of a large body.
How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire!: beginning at this point James warns about the potentially destructive power of the tongue. It seems quite possible that he is here quoting a proverb; this can be seen not only from the content itself but also from its terseness and balanced structure, with a double use of the same adjective modifying both fire and forest. It is interesting that the same adjective, which means literally “of what size,” can mean both “how great” or “how large” and “how small” depending on the object it modifies. It “expresses magnitude in either direction” (Hort). Here fire is the small element as compared to forest, and so the adjective can mean “a tiny flame” (Good News Translation), “a little spark of fire” (Moffatt), or even “the tiniest spark” (New English Bible, Revised English Bible). The meaning of the word rendered forest is understood in several ways. In addition to forest, the rendering favored by many translators, it has been suggested that the word basically means “wood,” and therefore is best translated as “timber” (New English Bible, Revised English Bible). It has also been suggested that the word means “thicket” or “bush.” However, for most translators “forest” or “jungle” will be the most natural rendering here.
When it comes to translation there are a number of things to consider. First, since this is a proverbial saying, there is no need to translate the form of the saying literally. If possible the translation should be a functionally equivalent proverb in the translator’s language, but having the same meaning as the Greek. For example, a Chinese saying expresses the idea very well: “A single spark can start a prairie fire [or, can burn out a prairie].” Secondly, it is interesting that, in translating this saying, the order of the elements may be reversed without altering the meaning; that is, we can say either “a big forest is set ablaze by a small spark” or “a small spark sets ablaze a big forest.” Translators should therefore decide which order is more natural in their language. Thirdly, in the original Greek this proverbial saying is introduced by a demonstrative particle often used to call attention to something or to introduce something new. This particle, though left untranslated by Revised Standard Version, may be desirable in some languages and may be rendered, for example, “Just think…” (Good News Translation) or “Consider…” (New American Bible, New International Version). Finally, to make a better connection to what James is going to say in verse 6, it may be very effective in some languages to make the statement into a rhetorical question. In so doing the first sentence of verse 6 serves as a sort of answer: “Just think. Isn’t a single spark capable of starting a prairie fire? (6) The tongue is a fire!” (so Today’s Chinese Version).
A possible alternative rendering of the last sentence may be:
• Just think: Such a small spark can burn down such a big forest!
Quoted with permission from Loh, I-Jin and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Letter from James. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .