1.5 KiB
Likewise
"In the same way." This compares the tongue to the horses' bits and the ships' rudders in the previous verses.
boasts great things
"a person can use it to speak very evil things"
Notice how great
Notice how great- "Think about how great"
how great a forest is kindled by a spark!
This can be translated as an active clause: "a small flame can start a fire that burns many trees!" (See:rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-activepassive)
tongue is also a fire
Just as a fire consumes and destroys all it burns, the tongue, referring to what a person says (metonymy) can deeply hurt people (metaphor). Alternate translation: "the tongue is like a fire." (See: rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metaphor and rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metonymy)
a world of sinfulness set among our body parts
Alternate translation: "It is a small part of our body but it is capable of sinning in all kinds of ways."
which defiles the whole body
This can be translated as a new sentence. "It can make us completely unpleasing to God" or "It can make us unacceptable to God."
and sets on fire the road of life
The phrase "road of life" is a metaphor that refers to a person's entire life. This could be translated as "and it can ruin a person's entire life."
and itself is set on fire by hell
The word "itself" refers to the tongue. Also, here "hell" is a metonym that refers to the powers of evil or to the Devil. This could be translated as an active clause: "because the Devil uses it for evil."