John Gill Commentary James 3:11

"Doth the fountain send forth from the same opening sweet [water] and bitter?" — James 3:11 (ASV)

Does 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.