Bible Strands
James 3:9
With the tongue we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — James writes to Jewish believers scattered among Gentiles, mid-argument that the tongue is untamable (3:8) and that blessing and cursing from the same mouth is incoherent (3:10).
The words — εὐλογοῦμεν (eulogoumen), "we bless," is the active present first-person plural, the same verb family behind the formal priestly benediction (Num 6:24–26); it carries the weight of a deliberate, ritual act, not a passing wish.
The thread — The phrase "made in God's likeness" echoes Genesis 1:26 and Genesis 9:6, where the imago Dei is the stated ground for human dignity and the prohibition against shedding blood; Psalms 10:7 presents the opposite mouth, full of cursing and malice.
Why it lands — The verse forces a binary: if the person you curse bears God's image, then the act is not merely rude but an assault on the one you just blessed, and the reader must reckon with which mouth they are actually using.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God.
Cross-references
- Psalms 10:7 His mouth is full of cursing, deceit, and violence; trouble and malice are under his tongue.
- 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.”
- Genesis 9:6 Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man his blood will be shed; for in His own image God has made mankind.
- Psalms 62:4 They fully intend to cast him down from his lofty perch; they delight in lies; with their mouths they bless, but inwardly they curse. Selah
- Genesis 5:1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, He made him in His own likeness.
- Psalms 59:12 By the sins of their mouths and the words of their lips, let them be trapped in their pride, in the curses and lies they utter.
- Isaiah 29:13 Therefore the Lord said: “These people draw near to Me with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. Their worship of Me is but rules taught by men.
- 2 Samuel 19:21 But Abishai son of Zeruiah said, “Shouldn’t Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed the LORD’s anointed?”
- Psalms 109:17 The cursing that he loved, may it fall on him; the blessing in which he refused to delight, may it be far from him.
- Ecclesiastes 7:22 For you know in your heart that many times you yourself have cursed others.