Commentaries:
Robertson's Word Pictures (NT)
No one (oudeiv). Especially his own tongue and by himself, but one has the help of the Holy Spirit.
A restless evil (akatastaton kakon). Correct reading, not akatasxeton, for which see James 1:8. The tongue is evil when set on fire by hell, not evil necessarily.
Full of deadly poison (mesth iou qanathforou). Feminine adjective agreeing with glwssa, not with kakon (neuter). Iou (poison here, as in Romans 3:13, but rust in James 5:3, only N.T. examples), old word. Genitive case after mesth (full of). Qanathforou, old compound adjective (from qanatov, death, ferw, to bear or bring), death-bringing. Here only in N.T. Like the restless death-bringing tongue of the asp before it strikes.
Other Robertson's Word Pictures (NT) entries containing James 3:8:
Mark 16:18
Romans 3:13
James 1:8
James 1:19
James 3:16
James 4:11
James 5:3
1 Peter 3:10
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