James 3:11

11 In a fountain, are fresh water and bitter sent forth from the same opening?

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 the Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who are made in God's likeness.

10 Out of the same mouth there proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, this ought not to be.

11 In a fountain, are fresh water and bitter sent forth from the same opening?

12 Can a fig-tree, my brethren, yield olives, or a vine yield figs? No; and neither can salt water yield sweet.

13 Which of you is a wise and well-instructed man? Let him prove it by a right life with conduct guided by a wisely teachable spirit.