“Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?”
The full verse · James 3:11 · KJV
a send the water ?
Asked by
James: "a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ" (James 1:1), warning that "the tongue can no man tame" (James 3:8)
Asked to
Jewish Christians: the "twelve tribes which are scattered abroad" (James 1:1), addressed here as "My brethren" (James 3:10)
The Scene
James has just said of the tongue, "Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God," and added, "My brethren, these things ought not so to be" (James 3:9-10).
Why It Was Asked
The purpose behind the questionJames wants his readers to feel how unnatural it is for one mouth to bless and to curse. Instead of arguing, he points to something from everyday life: a spring. Barnes explains that the word for "place" means an "opening, fissure," the crack in the earth or rock from which a spring gushes. One opening does not pour out sweet water and bitter at the same time. Barnes draws the point plainly: such things do not happen in nature, "and they should not be found in man." The question lets the reader reach that verdict for himself.
The Response
What Scripture recordsJames answers it in the next verse. He adds two more pictures, "Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs?" and then states the conclusion: "so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh" (James 3:12). From there he turns to the source of right speech, asking who is truly wise and calling for "meekness of wisdom" (James 3:13).
Historical Context
The world behind the wordsThe Greek word behind "place" is ope, an opening or hole; the KJV margin reads "hole," as Barnes notes. Gill adds an interesting detail. Pliny (a Roman writer on nature), quoted by Gill, observed that a fountain might send out sweet water and bitter at different places or at different times. That is why the text stresses "the same place." James' point is about one source giving two opposite things at once.
The Bigger Picture
Where this fits in God's storyGod made the world so that each thing gives what is true to its nature. James uses that order to expose a contradiction in us. The same tongue blesses "God, even the Father" and curses people "made after the similitude of God" (James 3:9). To curse the image while blessing the Maker is to pull apart what God holds together.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary says "We are taught to dread an unruly tongue, as one of the greatest evils." Yet James does not leave his readers with a tongue no one can tame (James 3:8). His next question points to the wisdom "that is from above" (James 3:13, 17). The answer to a divided mouth is a heart that God makes wise and pure.
Look Closer
What two things come out of the same mouth in James 3:9-10?
Carry the question into prayer and conversation.
Father, my mouth praises You and then hurts people made in Your image; what needs to change in the spring my words come from?
A prayer to carry into the day.
- Where do you notice the biggest gap between how you speak about God and how you speak about people?
- Think of someone whose words are consistently kind and true. What do you think makes their speech so steady?
For you, a small group, a friend, or the dinner table.
Pay attention to the whole stream of your words, not just the words you use in worship. The same mouth that sings on Sunday speaks at home, at work, and online. James says the two should match: "these things ought not so to be" (James 3:10).
When you speak of others, remember who they are. Every person you are tempted to curse is "made after the similitude of God" (James 3:9). Speak to them and about them with that in mind.
This is not about pretending everything is fine or never saying hard things. It is about keeping harsh, cursing words out of a mouth that blesses God.
Built from the biblical text and checked against trusted commentaries and lexicons. References & Sources
Keep questioning
“Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? Either a vine, figs?”
“Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you?”
“From whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?”