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1. Mj? rroXXoi, not many) A rightly governed tongue is rarely found.
Yer. 2, all. There ought therefore to be few teachers. Comp. Rom. xv. 18. In accordance with this principle also, he who acts as teacher ought not to be too much given to speaking. — y/veode, be) of your own accord. — /ue/fyv greater condemnation) on account
of more numerous offences. Comp. Wisdom vi. 5. [For we shall have to render an account of all our words. — Y. g.]
2. noXXa) in many and various circumstances and ways. — dffocvreg, all) The apostles do not even except themselves ; 1 John i. 8. — sv \oy w, in icord) viz. in a single word. Opposed to many things. The tongue does not always answer to the feeling. — -rm/s/, offend) This word is properly used of any fault or slip of the tongue. — ovrog) he indeed. — dvmrog — <r£//,a, able to bridle the whole body) The descrip- tion of a perfect man. — rb a w/^a, the body) that is, the man himself. Antithetical to the tongue, which is a member ; ver. 5. Comp. body, ver. 3, 6.
3. "I Se) I have thus edited on the best authority i1 idov, Eras- mus. There are very few MSS. remaining of which we can with confidence determine that they read idov. The interjection, 7de, is from an active verb ; idov follows the Middle Yoice. If there is any difference, 7de gives the idea of reflection ; idov is more impassioned. Therefore James in this first passage uses 7ds ; afterwards, he often uses idov , as he advances in strength. And one writer at least, in another place, uses both idov and 7de, and that too in the short com- pass of a conversation; John xii. 15, 19, xvi. 29, 32.2 Not to en- large further upon a matter of slight importance, I am satisfied with the reasons already alleged for the preference given by me to 7de. —
1 E / be is the reading of AB Vulg. Memph. So Lachm. and Tisch. In this case the Apodosis to el is virtually given in ver. 5, “ Seeing that we put bits,” etc. ; so also the tongue, etc. C reads ’ibe. Rec. Text lboi>, without very old authority. Later Syr. and Theb. have ecce. Syr. has ecce enim. — E.
2 the. This is a middle reading ; from which some few have made idov, and many, long since (and perhaps also Cant. 2, which Mill refers to on ver. 4, and Baumgarten with him), el be, or g/de, with the difference only of one or two letters ; and this difference is less apparent in the Greek MSS. than in the Arabic and Coptic. In the Latin it is si autem.
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