The offending tongue
							
																								
								(James 3:1-12)							
																								
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									TO THE OVERSEER. A PSALM OF DAVID. Hear, O God, my voice, in my meditation, || You keep my life from the fear of an enemy,
								
							 
																								
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									Hide me from the secret counsel of evildoers, || From the tumult of workers of iniquity.
								
							 
																								
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									Who sharpened their tongue as a sword, || They directed their arrow—a bitter word.
								
							 
																								
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									To shoot the perfect in secret places, || Suddenly they shoot him, and do not fear.
								
							 
																								
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									They strengthen an evil thing for themselves, || They recount of the hiding of snares, || They have said, “Who looks at it?”
								
							 
																								
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									They search out perverse things, “We perfected a searching search,” || And the inward part of man, and the heart, [are] deep.
								
							 
																								
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									And God shoots them [with] an arrow, || Their wounds have been sudden,
								
							 
																								
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									And they cause him to stumble, || Their own tongue [is] against them, || Every looker on them flees away.
								
							 
																								
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									And all men fear, and declare the work of God, || And they have wisely considered His deed.
								
							 
																								
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									The righteous rejoice in YHWH, || And have trusted in Him, || And all the upright of heart boast!
								
							 
																						
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