James 3:11

11 Both fresh water and salt water don't come from the same spring, do they?

James 3:11 Meaning and Commentary

James 3:11

Doth a fountain send forth at the same place
"Or hole"; for at divers places, and at different times, as Pliny ^F13 observes, it may send forth

sweet [water] and bitter:
and it is reported ^F14, there is a lake with the Trogloditae, a people in Ethiopia, which becomes thrice a day bitter, and then as often sweet; but then it does not yield sweet water and bitter at the same time: this simile is used to show how unnatural it is that blessing and cursing should proceed out of the same mouth.

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FOOTNOTES:

F13 Nat. Hist. l. 2. c. 103.
F14 Isodor. Hispal. Originum, l. 13. c. 13. p. 115.

James 3:11 In-Context

9 With it we both bless the Lord and Father and curse human beings made in God's likeness.

10 Blessing and cursing come from the same mouth. My brothers and sisters, it just shouldn't be this way!

11 Both fresh water and salt water don't come from the same spring, do they?

12 My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree produce olives? Can a grapevine produce figs? Of course not, and fresh water doesn't flow from a saltwater spring either.

13 Are any of you wise and understanding? Show that your actions are good with a humble lifestyle that comes from wisdom.