6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.



Ver. 6. A world of iniquity] A newly found world. Not a city or country only, but "a world of iniquity," a sink, a sea of sin, wherein there is not only that Leviathan, but creeping things innumerable, Psa_104:26.



So is the tongue among our members] For better purpose it was there set, sc. in the midst between the brain and the heart, that it might take the advice of both; and that we might verba prius ad limam revocare, quam ad linguam.



That it defileth the whole body] Leaving a stain upon the speaker, and setting a stain upon the hearer; even the guilt and filth of sin.



The course of nature] Gr. The wheel of our nativity. Their breath, as fire, devoureth, Isa_33:10; "The poison of asps is under their lips," Rom_3:13. The venomous heat of which deadly poison, like a fire in the flesh, killeth the wounded with torments, the likeliest hell of any other. In the holy tongue dabber signifieth a word, debher a pest; to show (saith one) that an evil tongue hath the pestilence in it.



And is set on fire of hell] That is, of the devil (called elsewhere the gates of hell), as the Holy Ghost (on the other side) set on fire the apostles’ tongues with zeal, that flame of God, Son_8:6; Act_2:3. Evil speech is the devil’s drivel; a slanderer carries the devil’s pack. He hath his name in Hebrew from footing it, trotting and tracing up and down to sow strife: Ragal, to defame or slander; regel, a foot. In Greek the same word signifieth a devil and a slanderer. The talebearer carrieth the devil in his tongue (saith one), the talehearer in his ear.