James 3:11

11 A spring doesn't send both fresh and bitter water from the same opening, does it?

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 bless ADONAI, the Father; and with it we curse people, who were made in the image of God.g

10 Out of the same mouth come blessing and cursing! Brothers, it isn't right for things to be this way.

11 A spring doesn't send both fresh and bitter water from the same opening, does it?

12 Can a fig tree yield olives, my brothers? or a grapevine, figs? Neither does salt water produce fresh.

13 Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him demonstrate it by his good way of life, by actions done in the humility that grows out of wisdom.