Charles Ellicott Commentary James 3:12

"Can a fig tree, my brethren, yield olives, or a vine figs? Neither [can] salt water yield sweet." — James 3:12 (ASV)

Can the fig tree, my brothers, bear olive berries? Can a vine bear figs?—Read, Can a fig tree bear olives, or a vine, figs? The inquiry sounds like a memory of our Lord’s, Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? (Matthew 7:16).

So can no fountain . . .—This last clause of the sentence above in the Authorized Version is very confused in the original. However, it seems to mean merely this: Neither can salt water bring forth fresh; or, as Wordsworth renders it, Nor can water that is salt produce what is sweet. And such in effect is Alford’s comment: “If the mouth emits cursing, thereby making itself a brackish spring, it cannot effectively also emit the sweet stream of praise and good words; if it appears to do so, all must be hypocrisy and mere appearance.” Every blessing is, in fact, tainted by the tongue that has uttered curses; and even Praise is not seemly in the mouth of a sinner .