James 3:7

7 For brute nature under all its forms--beasts and birds, reptiles and fishes--can be subjected and kept in subjection by human nature.

James 3:7 Meaning and Commentary

James 3:7

For every kind of beasts, and of birds
Or the "nature" of them, as it is in the Greek text; however fierce, as beasts of prey are, or shy, as the fowls of the air be:

and of serpents and things in the sea;
the fishes there:

is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind,
or "by human nature": by the wit and industry of man; by the various ways, means, and methods devised by man. So Pliny ^F12 relates, that elephants lions and tigers among beasts, and the eagle among birds, and crocodiles, asps, and other serpents, and fishes of the sea, have been tamed: though some think this is only to be understood of their being mastered and subdued, by one means or another; or of their being despoiled of their power, or of their poison: and the Syriac and Ethiopic versions render it, "subjected to human nature".

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FOOTNOTES:

F12 Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 9. 16, 17. & 10. 5, 44.

James 3:7 In-Context

5 In the same way the tongue is an insignificant part of the body, but it is immensely boastful. Remember how a mere spark may set a vast forest in flames.

6 And the tongue is a fire. That world of iniquity, the tongue, is placed within us spotting and soiling our whole nature, and setting the whole round of our lives on fire, being itself set on fire by Gehenna.

7 For brute nature under all its forms--beasts and birds, reptiles and fishes--can be subjected and kept in subjection by human nature.

8 But the tongue no man or woman is able to tame. It is an ever-busy mischief, and is full of deadly poison.

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