FIRST READING: James 3: 1 - 10
1 Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, for you know that we who teach shall be judged with greater strictness.
2 For we all make many mistakes, and if any one makes no mistakes in what he says he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body also.
3 If we put bits into the mouths of horses that they may obey us, we guide their whole bodies.
4 Look at the ships also; though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs.
5 So the tongue is a little member and boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire!
6 And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is an unrighteous world among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the cycle of nature, and set on fire by hell.
7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by humankind,
8 but no human being can tame the tongue -- a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
9 With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who are made in the likeness of God.
10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brethren, this ought not to be so.
PSALM: Psalms 12: 2 - 5, 7 - 8
2 Every one utters lies to his neighbor; with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.
3 May the LORD cut off all flattering lips, the tongue that makes great boasts,
4 those who say, "With our tongue we will prevail, our lips are with us; who is our master?"
5 "Because the poor are despoiled, because the needy groan, I will now arise," says the LORD; "I will place him in the safety for which he longs."
7 Do thou, O LORD, protect us, guard us ever from this generation.
8 On every side the wicked prowl, as vileness is exalted among the sons of men.
GOSPEL: Mark 9: 2 - 13
2 And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves; and he was transfigured before them,
3 and his garments became glistening, intensely white, as no fuller on earth could bleach them.
4 And there appeared to them Eli'jah with Moses; and they were talking to Jesus.
5 And Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is well that we are here; let us make three booths, one for you and one for Moses and one for Eli'jah."
6 For he did not know what to say, for they were exceedingly afraid.
7 And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, "This is my beloved Son; listen to him."
8 And suddenly looking around they no longer saw any one with them but Jesus only.
9 And as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of man should have risen from the dead.
10 So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what the rising from the dead meant.
11 And they asked him, "Why do the scribes say that first Eli'jah must come?"
12 And he said to them, "Eli'jah does come first to restore all things; and how is it written of the Son of man, that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt?
13 But I tell you that Eli'jah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written of him."
