After describing the great destructive potential of the tongue, James now takes up another of its qualities, namely that it is uncontrollable. His point is that the tongue, that is, a person’s speech, defies control and therefore can be extremely evil.

For every kind of …: the particle For ties what is being said in verses 7-8 to the previous statement in verse 6. In some languages this explanatory particle is best retained to keep the argument clear. In others, however, the connection is clear enough without it. The word kind in every kind basically means “nature,” but in this context the sense is determined by the fourfold list of creatures, and so it has the narrower meaning of “species” (so New Revised Standard Version). For languages where a term like “species” is lacking, a more general term like kind, or “all other creatures” (Good News Translation) may be used.

Beast and bird … reptile and sea creature: in Greek the reference to all these creatures is in the plural. This classification reflects the characteristic biblical convention of dividing all the creatures into four classes (see Gen 1.26; 9.2; Deut 4.17-18). The word beast probably refers to undomesticated animals and therefore is rendered as “wild animals” by Good News Translation. Other ways to express this are “jungle [or forest, bush] animals.” The word reptile refers to crawling animals and so may be rendered as “creatures that crawl on the ground” (Revised English Bible). The word sea creature, used only here in the New Testament, is literally “[the things or creatures] in the sea,” and refers to “fish” (Good News Translation); it may also be rendered as “creatures that swim in the sea” (Revised English Bible), or even “creatures that swim in the water.” The context is referring to water creatures as opposed to land and air creatures. In places where seas or oceans are unknown, we may say, for example, “creatures that swim in the big rivers [or, large lakes].” It is important for translators to use the classification for creatures or animals that is meaningful in their own cultures.

Can be tamed and has been tamed is literally “is tamed and has been tamed.” The verb “to tame” appears elsewhere in the New Testament only in Mark 5.4, where it means “to subdue,” referring to the inability of people to subdue the demon-driven man. Here it obviously means “to domesticate,” “to subdue” (so New English Bible, Revised English Bible), “to bring under control” all species of animals. The first verb is in the present tense, which may point to the continual possibility of taming and therefore have the force of “is being tamed from time to time.” The second verb is in the perfect, indicating a completed action that continues to have present significance. It is therefore taken by some interpreters to mean that humankind’s dominion over the animal species was given at the very beginning of creation, and that the present situation of “taming” was established at that time in the past. It is not certain, however, that our author intends to make these fine points. Most commentators regard the double use of the same verb as simply to create a rhetorical effect, and have therefore rendered it as “can be tamed and has been tamed” (so Revised Standard Version, New American Bible, New Revised Standard Version), “can be subdued and have been subdued” (so New English Bible, Revised English Bible), or “can be, and has been, brought under control” (Barclay).

By humankind is a construction that can be taken as a dative of advantage in the sense of “for humankind.” The majority of commentators take it to be a dative of agent or instrument and render the phrase as “by humankind” or, in line with the use of the same word earlier in the verse, “by the human species” (so New American Bible, New Revised Standard Version). Good News Translation has rendered the saying in a positive form with mankind as the subject, thus “We humans are able to tame and have tamed all other creatures” (so also Bible en français courant). The word for humankind, sometimes rendered “man,” does not mean a male person, but human beings in contrast with other created animal species.

In languages that do not have the passive, the Good News Translation model is useful. In some languages it will be helpful to break this long sentence up into shorter sentences; for example:
• Human beings are able to tame all other creatures. This includes forest [or, wild] animals, birds, crawling creatures, and creatures that swim in the sea. They have in fact tamed them.

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 .