James 3:11

11 Doth a fountain send forth, out of the same hole, sweet and bitter water?

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 By it we bless God and the Father: and by it we curse men who are made after the likeness of God.

10 Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.

11 Doth a fountain send forth, out of the same hole, sweet and bitter water?

12 Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear grapes? Or the vine, figs? So neither can the salt water yield sweet.

13 Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge, among you? Let him shew, by a good contestation, his work in the meekness of wisdom.