What Does James 3:9 Mean in the King James?
Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The same tongue that blesses God is shown cursing people who bear God’s likeness.
THE MEANING
Your tongue can bless God and curse people with the same speech. Yet those people have come into being in God’s likeness, so what you say toward them is bound up with what you say toward God. The verse exposes the split within your own words.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that reverence for God can remain intact while contemptuous speech toward people is spiritually unrelated.
THE ROOT
ὁμοίωσιν
homoiōsin
GROWS FROM
ὁμοιόω
homoioō
To make like or to resemble.
“similitude” in this verse is homoiōsin. The Greek word belongs to the family of making alike, and the same word for “likeness” appears in the Greek text of Genesis 1:26. The person your tongue curses still bears the likeness named at creation.
ALSO GROWS
homoiōma: Likeness, form, or image.
ὁμοίωμα
It shows how this word family speaks of a recognizable likeness, not a label detached from the person.
homoios: Like or similar.
ὅμοιος
It shares the idea of resemblance that makes “similitude” more than a vague comparison.
εὐλογοῦμεν
eulogoumen
GROWS FROM
εὖ + λέγω (eu + legō)
To speak well or pronounce good.
“bless” in this verse is eulogoumen. The Greek word carries speech within its very shape: blessing is spoken good. The verse places that speech beside cursing, showing that the same tongue can turn its words in opposite directions.
ALSO GROWS
eulogia: Blessing or praise.
εὐλογία
It keeps blessing in the realm of spoken words, where James places it.
eulogētos: Blessed or worthy of praise.
εὐλογητός
It shows the same word family describing one who receives praise or blessing.
καταρώμεθα
katarōmetha
GROWS FROM
κατά + ἀράομαι (kata + araomai)
To invoke a curse against someone.
“curse” in this verse is katarōmetha. This Greek word family gives cursing the force of calling harm against a person. Set beside blessing, it makes the tongue’s contradiction sharp: its words can pronounce good toward God and invoke harm toward people bearing God’s likeness.
ALSO GROWS
katara: A curse or imprecation.
κατάρα
It names the curse that the verb expresses in this verse.
ara: A curse, imprecation, or invocation.
ἀρά
It reveals the invoking force within the word family behind “curse.”
THE PATTERN
Speech toward God and speech toward people belong to the same moral field because people bear God’s likeness.
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.THE THREAD
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.James’s “similitude” is homoiōsis, the same Greek word used for “likeness” in Genesis 1:26. The echo carries the creation likeness into the words your tongue speaks over people now.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
You can read any verse this way in the app, keep it as a card, and send it on.
A Bible app where you send verses from your keyboard and in Messages, and every verse has a Deep Dive.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us