"... We cannot be sure from which of the earlier wisdom sayings James has acquired the insights he expresses in the first half of the verse, but it is clear he has formulated a new aphorism of his own. His aphorism succinctly combines the advice previously expressed less concisely and never in a single aphorism. Moreover, his aphorism, despite the remarkable conciseness of its first part, achieves a more precise meaning, by associating rash speech with impetuous anger, the two topics which are the subject of distinct aphorisms in previous wisdom. The motive clause in the second half of the verse (which was most probably formulated originally as an independent aphorism) then gives a reason for the advice without precedent in the tradition. This is a fine example of the way the sage, making the wisdom of the tradition his own, expresses it in an apt proverb of his own formulation, not only transmitting but adding to the wisdom of the tradition ... Compare also Mishnah Avot 1:15 (‘say little and do much’: attributed to Shammai); 2:10 (‘be not easily provoked’: attributed to R. Eliezer b. Hyrcanus); 5.12 (‘quick to hear and slow to forget’); 4Q420 1:2:1–3 (‘He will not answer before he hears, and he will not speak before he understands, and with patience he will give a reply’); Job 11:2–3 LXX (‘The one who speaks much should also hear much ... Do not be profuse in speech’), quoted in 1 Clement 30:4–5 ..."