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Jam_3:11. Illustration of the unnaturalness of the conduct mentioned by an image taken from nature: Does the fountain from the same hole send forth the sweet and the bitter?
ἡ πηγή ] The article is not here for the sake of liveliness (Schneckenburger: articulus fontem quasi ante oculos pingit), but is used because πηγή is generically considered.
ἐκ τῆς αὐτῆς ὀπῆς ] ὀπή , the hollow, Heb_11:38, Exo_33:22, Obad. Jam_3:3, is here the hole from which the water of the fountain streams forth. ἡ πηγή refers to man; ἡ ὀπή , to the mouth. The chief accent is on αὐτῆς , which points back to ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ στόματος , Jam_3:10.
βρύειν ] an ἅπ . λεγ ., properly to sprout forth, then to overflow, is here used transitively, to cause to flow forth.
τὸ γλυκύ and τὸ πικρόν indicate, indeed, the two different kinds of water, yet linguistically τὸ ὕδωρ is not to be supplied; the former refers to εὐλογεῖν , and the latter to καταρᾶσθαι . With this verse James says only that happens not in nature, which occurs in the case of man, out of whose mouth proceed blessing and cursing. The following verse first expresses the impossibility.