James 3 · Verse 11

James 3:11

Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?

James 3:11, King James Version

James 3:11 in other translations

BSB	Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?
WEB	Does a spring send out from the same opening fresh and bitter water?
ASV	Doth the fountain send forth from the same opening sweet water and bitter?
YLT	doth the fountain out of the same opening pour forth the sweet and the bitter?
DARBY	Does the fountain, out of the same opening, pour forth sweet and bitter?
BBE	Does the fountain send from the same outlet sweet and bitter water?
Webster	Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?

What does James 3:11 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

11. fountain--an image of the heart: as the aperture (so the Greek for "place" is literally) of the fountain is an image of man's mouth. The image here is appropriate to the scene of the Epistle, Palestine, wherein salt and bitter springs are found. Though "sweet" springs are sometimes found near, yet "sweet and bitter" (water) do not flow "at the same place" (aperture). Grace can make the same mouth that "sent forth the bitter" once, send forth the sweet for the time to come: as the wood (typical of Christ's cross) changed Marah's bitter water into sweet.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Barnes' Notes

Verse 11. Doth a fountain send forth at the same place. Marg., hole. The greek word means opening, fissure, such as there is in the earth, or in rocks from which a fountain gushes.

Sweet water and bitter. Fresh water and salt, Jas 3:12. Such things do not occur in the works of nature, and they should not be found in man.

(+) "place" or, "hole"

Albert Barnes, 1834 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 11 Doth a fountain send forth - sweet water and bitter? - In many things nature is a sure guide to man; but no such inconsistency is found in the natural world as this blessing and cursing in man. No fountain, at the same opening, sends forth sweet water and bitter; no fig tree can bear olive berries; no vine can bear figs; nor can the sea produce salt water and fresh from the same place. These are all contradictions, and indeed impossibilities, in nature. And it is depraved man alone that can act the monstrous part already referred to.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on James 3:1-12

Chapter Outline Cautions against proud behaviour, and the mischief of an unruly tongue. (1-12) The excellence of heavenly wisdom, in opposition to that which is worldly. (13-18) Verses 1-12 We are taught to dread an unruly tongue, as one of the greatest evils. The affairs of mankind are thrown into confusion by the tongues of men. Every age of the world, and every condition of life, private or public, affords…

Read the full comment on James 3:1-12 →

James 3:11 in the original Greek

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

μήτιmētisurely not everG3385

ἡhētheG3588

πηγὴpēgēspringG4077

ἐκekoutG1537

τῆςtēsof theG3588

αὐτῆςautēssameG846

ὀπῆςopēsopeningG3692

βρύειbrueipours forthG1032

τὸto<the>G3588

γλυκὺgluku[both] freshG1099

καὶkaiandG2532

τὸto<the>G3588

πικρόν;pikronbitter?G4089

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

place. or, hole.
11

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

James 3:10
Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.
James 3:11
Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?
James 3:12
Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.

Read all of James 3

James 3:11 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	¿Echa alguna fuente por una misma abertura agua dulce y amarga?
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	Une fontaine fait-elle jaillir par une même ouverture le doux et l’amer?
German Elberfelder 1871	Die Quelle sprudelt doch nicht aus derselben Öffnung das Süße und das Bittere?
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Numquid fons de eodem foramine emanat dulcem et amaram aquam?