James 3:11

The fountain (h phgh). Old word for spring ( John 4:14 ). Opening (oph). Old word for fissure in the earth, in N.T. only here and Hebrews 11:38 (caves). Send forth (bruei). Present active indicative of bruw, old verb, to bubble up, to gush forth, here only in N.T. The use of mhti shows that a negative answer is expected in this rhetorical question. The sweet and the bitter (to gluku kai to pikron). Cognate accusatives with bruei. Separate articles to distinguish sharply the two things. The neuter singular articular adjective is a common way of presenting a quality. Gluku is an old adjective (in N.T. only here and Revelation 10:9 ), the opposite of pikron (from old root, to cut, to prick), in N.T. only here and verse Revelation 14 (sharp, harsh).