Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 3:6 The tongue also is a fire, The most lengthy illustration is that the tongue is like a fire. This illustration begins with another large-small contrast, a large forest can be destroyed by the smallest of sparks. There is a play on words here, since the same Greek word (ἡλίκος, hēlikos, which points to size in either direction) is used for the largeness of the forest and the smallness of the spark. Words that seem small and insignificant