“Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!”
Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark — the explicit application compares the tongue's outsized power to the destruction fire can effect. The 'great boasts' (megalaucha, literally 'great-boastful') of the tongue show its orientation toward prideful, uncontrolled speech. The fire image, perhaps drawn from proverbs about quarrelsome people (Proverbs 26:20-21), introduces the theme of the tongue's destructive power.
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