James 3:11

11 Does the fountain send from the same outlet 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 With it we give praise to our Lord and Father; and with it we put a curse on men who are made in God's image.

10 Out of the same mouth comes blessing and cursing. My brothers, it is not right for these things to be so.

11 Does the fountain send from the same outlet sweet and bitter water?

12 Is a fig-tree able to give us olives, my brothers, or do we get figs from a vine, or sweet water from the salt sea?

13 Who has wisdom and good sense among you? let him make his works clear by a life of gentle wisdom.