James 3:12

Modern

My brothers, can a fig tree grow olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

Traditional

Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.

Literal

Is a fig tree able, my brothers, to make olives, or a vine, figs? Neither can salt prooduce sweet water.

Latin

Numquid potest, fratres mei, ficus uvas facere, aut vitis ficus? Sic neque salsa dulcem potest facere aquam.

Greek

English

My brothers, can a fig tree grow olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

Theme notes and profiles

Matthew 12:33
Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is known by its fruit.
Luke 6:43–44
No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.
Matthew 7:16–20
By their fruit you will recognize them. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
Jeremiah 2:21
I had planted you like a choice vine from the very best seed. How could you turn yourself before Me into a rotten, wild vine?
Romans 11:16–18
If the first part of the dough is holy, so is the whole batch; if the root is holy, so are the branches.
Isaiah 5:2–4
He dug it up and cleared the stones and planted the finest vines. He built a watchtower in the middle and dug out a winepress as well. He waited for the vineyard to yield good grapes, but the fruit it produced was sour!
Ezekiel 47:8–11
And he said to me, “This water flows out to the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah. When it empties into the Dead Sea, the water there becomes fresh.
Exodus 15:23–25
And when they came to Marah, they could not drink the water there because it was bitter. (That is why it was named Marah.)
2 Kings 2:19–22
Then the men of the city said to Elisha, “Please note, our lord, that the city’s location is good, as you can see. But the water is bad and the land is unfruitful.”