James 3:7

For every kind of beasts, and of birds ,.... Or the "nature" of them, as it is in the Greek text; however fierce, as beasts of prey are, or shy, as the fowls of the air be:

and of serpents and things in the sea ; the fishes there:

is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind , or "by human nature": by the wit and industry of man; by the various ways, means, and methods devised by man. So Pliny F12 Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 9. 16,17. & 10. 5,44. relates, that elephants lions and tigers among beasts, and the eagle among birds, and crocodiles, asps, and other serpents, and fishes of the sea, have been tamed: though some think this is only to be understood of their being mastered and subdued, by one means or another; or of their being despoiled of their power, or of their poison: and the Syriac and Ethiopic versions render it, "subjected to human nature".