James 3:11
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
Does a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?
American King James Version (AKJV)
Does a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?
American Standard Version (ASV)
Doth the fountain send forth from the same opening sweet water and bitter?
Basic English Translation (BBE)
Does the fountain send from the same outlet sweet and bitter water?
Webster's Revision
Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?
World English Bible
Does a spring send out from the same opening fresh and bitter water?
English Revised Version (ERV)
Doth the fountain send forth from the same opening sweet water and bitter?
Definitions for James 3:11
Clarke's James 3:11 Bible Commentary
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.
Barnes's James 3:11 Bible Commentary
Doth a fountain send forth at the same place - Margin, "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, James 3:12. Such things do not occur in the works of nature, and they should not be found in man.