The Greek in James 3:12 that is translated as “Can a fig tree yield olives or a grapevine figs?” in English is translated as “What about orange trees? Can also guaves hang there? Or what about a blackberry bush? Do oranges hang there?” in Eastern Highland Otomi and “Think also if an apple tree can give peaches, if an avocado tree can give apples” in Tzotzil) (source: Ellis Deibler in Notes on Translation July, 1967, p. 5ff.).
In Low German, the first part is translated as “can a fig tree yield oranges” (translation by Johannes Jessen, publ. 1933, republ. 2006).
The Greek that is translated in English as “fig tree” is translated in Lokạạ with figi, an indigenized transliteration of the English “fig.”
“The Lokạạ translators noted that they could not use the name of their local fig kẹkamati, which is very close to the fig family but only a shrub. This is because of the appearance of the Greek term for fig tree in verses such as John 1:48, where the fig tree is an enjoyable place for sitting in the shade. The Lokạạ translators decided to use an iconic translation of the English “fig”, which they indigenised as figi in Lokạạ. Since the term figi could not easily be connected to the indigenous term kẹkamati, readers would not have difficulty with passages such as John 1:48, in which people sit under the fig tree.” (Source: J.A. Naudé, C.L. Miller Naudé, J.O. Obono in Acta Theologica 43/2, 2023, p. 129ff. )
Following are a number of back-translations of James 3:12:
Uma: “An ara tree doesn’t bear zaitun fruit. And an anggur tree doesn’t bear ara fruit. A salty well doesn’t bring-forth plain/clear water.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “My brothers, the mampallam tree does it bear guava? And a vine does it bear mampallam? No. Likewise you (sing.) cannot draw good water from a well full of stale water. Likewise we (incl.) also our (incl.) speech/words should be good only, no bad speech/words should be mixed in.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Brothers, when a fig tree bears fruit, it is not possible that its fruit is olives. And when a grapevine bears fruit, it is not possible that its fruit is figs. If there is a well from which bitter water comes, it is not possible that water which is not bitter comes from there.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Neither is there any fig (loan igos) that fruits olives (loan olivo), and neither also is there a grape (loan obas) trunk/base that fruits figs. Neither also is the ocean the source of good (i.e. drinkable) water. That’s what our tongues should follow-the-example-of so that good and bad speech are not mixed-together.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “My siblings in believing, an igos really doesn’t bear olibo fruit, neither does an ubas bear igos fruit. And also one can’t draw fresh (lit. tasteless) water from the sea.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Dear brethren, a tree of figs cannot produce fruit called olive. A vine of grapes cannot produce the fig. Where there comes up bad water, there cannot come up good water.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
The Hebrew, Greek and Latin that is translated in English typically as “vine” is translated in Lak as къюмайтӀутӀул мурхьра: “the (grape-) cluster tree.”
Vitaly Voinov tells this story: “Laks (who live in the mountainous regions of Dagestan) historically have had no experience with planting and tending vineyards. They buy grapes at the market or the store, but that’s about all they know of grape growing. Thus, in field testing, none of the readers could picture the primary image of this chapter. The translator’s initial attempt of rendering ‘vine’ as ‘grape stalk’ met with complete non-understanding. After much discussion of the problem and potential solutions, we settled on what one of the field testing respondents suggested to remedy the problem: ‘vine’ was rendered as ‘the (grape-)cluster tree’ (къюмайтӀутӀул мурхьра). Technically grapes of course don’t grow on trees, but something had to be put in the text, and it had to be said in a way that the average reader/hearer could understand it. The Lak team could have borrowed the Russian word for ‘vine’ (лоза), but since this is a very low-frequency word in the Russian language, it’s likely that many Laks wouldn’t know the Russian word either. So the team settled for a reduction of accuracy in order to achieve greater clarity. After all, the primary point of importance in this passage is not a horticultural analysis, but a metaphorical comparison to the spiritual world, to the relationship between the Father, His Son, and the followers of Jesus. This rendering allows readers to get to the core of this meaning without getting tangled up in unknown terms.”
The Common Grape Vine Vitis vinifera is mentioned more often than any other plant or tree in the Bible. Excavations in Greece have discovered grape seeds dating to 4500 B.C. Egyptian records document the existence of cultivated vines in Canaan as early as 2375 B.C., and subsequent records report trade in vine products around 1360 B.C. and many times thereafter.
The vine is a creeping plant that develops a woody stem when it matures. It grows along the ground until it finds a tree or other object to climb, using tendrils. It bears bunches of small round fruit that are sweet and juicy. Today farmers grow them commercially throughout the Mediterranean area, in South Africa, in North America, and in many other countries. The first reference to the vine in the Bible (Genesis 9:20) tells us that Noah planted a vineyard (Hebrew kerem) and that he made an alcoholic drink from the fruit. Farmers since then have improved on the size, color, and quality of the fruit by careful pruning and selection until now there are at least 65 kinds of grapevines. Like many other plants in temperate areas, the vine has leaves that appear in early spring. After the fruit is picked and the weather gets cold, the leaves drop off and the plant is bare until the following spring. A typical vineyard in Bible times was surrounded by a stone fence. It had a stone tower from which the owner could watch for predators, and a place to squeeze the juice out of the fruits.
The vine is the most frequently cited plant in the Bible, and that alone makes it special. Vines, grapes, raisins, and wine were a major element of Jewish life, so it is not a surprise that the vine and its products are used figuratively probably more than any other Bible plant. After the flood purified the earth at the time of Noah, the vine became the means by which the human race was plunged again into sin (Genesis 9:20). We know from Jacob’s blessing in Genesis 49:11f. and other passages that the vine was the symbol of blessing, prosperity, and happiness. The fact that there were groups like the Nazirites and Rechabites who abstained from drinking wine simply shows the radical self-denial that these people imposed on themselves. A drink offering of wine was an important part of worship (Exodus 29:40), and the image of contentment was “every man under his vine and under his fig tree” (Micah 4:4). Jotham includes the vine in his well-known Parable of the Trees (Judges 9:7ff.). In the New Testament, Jesus rescued a man from humiliation at a wedding party by miraculously providing a fresh supply of wine (John 2:1ff.). Wine becomes a major symbol in the Christian community when Jesus foreshadows his crucifixion by comparing the wine poured out in the Passover celebration to his blood (Matthew 26:27f. et al.). He speaks of the need for Christians to be like the branches of the vine, drawing their nourishment from him, the True Vine (John 15.:1ff.). Nearly every New Testament writer makes some metaphorical reference to the vine or its products.
There are around 65 kinds of grapevines (Vitis vinifera) found in the Northern Hemisphere. They belong to a larger family of creeping plants called Vitaceae, which has over 800 species throughout the world including many in the tropical and warm climates of the world.
Grapevines have occasionally been grown in West Africa (for example, in The Gambia and in northern Nigeria) but are not well known even where they are grown commercially. Attempts at substituting a local tree name have not been entirely successful because the species chosen is usually not cultivated and/or does not have the same economic or social function that the grape had in Israel.
Thus it is probably best to use a transliteration from a major language. However, in parts of Nigeria and perhaps elsewhere, the word grep refers to “grapefruit” and should be avoided in translation. A transliteration from “vine” or “wine” is preferred, although a translator needs to be careful. The English word “vine” refers to any creeping plant, but it also refers to a particular kind of vine that produces grapes (Vitis vinifera). This can be confusing. Furthermore, translators in English-speaking countries should think carefully about what they are going to do with the word “wine.” In The Gambia, Mandinka translators first used “wayini tree” but later concluded that it may be better to have a word for “vine” that is not necessarily identical with “wine.” Bine, from binekaro (“vinegar”), was considered, as was inabi (“grape”) from Arabic.
Languages that borrow the Arabic word inabi must deal with the fact that this word bears an unfortunate resemblance to annabi (“prophet”) and new readers reading “water of inabi” in a context of prophecy may associate it, for better or worse, with prophets and prophecy. In northern Nigeria church people have gotten used to inabi in the New Testament even though many of them don’t know what it is. Basa in Nigeria uses a wild grape-like plant (afwafwa), and Igala has used the same species (achiwebetema) for years. Likewise, two translations in Mali and Burkina Faso use their local name for a wild vine (Lannea microcarpa) for the biblical vine. There is a species (Rhoicissus tridentata) in southern and eastern Africa known as “African grape” (locally called “bobbejaantou”). In such cases translators should write a footnote (or glossary item) stating that the grapes of Bible times were larger and sweeter than the local variety, and that they were cultivated extensively as a source for producing beverages. Other possibilities for transliteration are: vinyola/videra (Portuguese), vitis (Latin), and inab (Arabic).
Fruit of the vine (Hebrew ‘enav; Greek botrus, staphulē): There is some evidence that botrus refers to a bunch of grapes, while staphulē refers to individual grapes. According to Louw and Nida (Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Domains, 1988), however, both words may refer to individual grapes as well as bunches of grapes. The Hebrew word tirosh is equivalent to the word “vintage” in English, that is, the grape harvest and possibly the first squeezing of the grapes. It is normally used along with the words referring to the olive harvest (yitshar) and grain harvest (dagan).
Two types of fig trees are mentioned in the Bible, the Common Fig Ficus carica (Hebrew te’enah) and the Sycomore Fig Ficus sycomorus (Hebrew shiqmah; see “Sycomore fig”). They are closely related. The common fig tree grows not only in Israel, but throughout the world in warm climates. In the Holy Land it was a common source of food; the fruit was eaten both fresh and dried. Sometimes the dried ones were pressed together to form flat “cakes” or blocks (Hebrew develah). But, just as important, the large leaves of the fig make it an excellent shade tree. However, the first use of the fig mentioned in the Bible (Genesis 3:7) was not for food or shade but for clothing; Adam and Eve sewed fig leaves for themselves to cover their nakedness.
The fig was probably domesticated in northwestern Turkey from a wild variety that grew there around 5000 years ago. Greek, Roman, and Egyptian records indicate that the fruits were popular. Figs are now grown especially in Israel, Turkey, Greece, Italy, and Portugal, as well as in the warm parts of the United States.
The fig is believed to be indigenous to western Asia and to have been distributed by humans and birds throughout the Mediterranean area. Remnants of figs have been found in excavations of sites traced to at least 5000 B.C.
The domesticated fig grows to about 5-8 meters (17-26 feet) and has a round crown and very deep and round roots. The trunk may grow to be more than 70 centimeters (2 feet) thick. Fig trees may grow to be several decades old, if they are well cared for. Figs are usually propagated by planting cuttings. The pollination of the flowers is an amazingly intricate process closely linked to the life cycle of a tiny wasp, and the fact that fig trees, like papayas and date palms, are male or female. (There are now some kinds of figs that produce fruit without pollination.) The fruits are about the size of a hen’s egg and can be green, yellow, purple, or brown depending on the type. They are sweet and soft and difficult to transport. For that reason most farmers dry the fruits before shipping them. The “fruit” of the fig is technically a strangely shaped flower. Noting the absence of a “real” flower, the ancient people of India called it a flowerless tree.
The common fig tree, along with the vine and the olive, is one of the three “top trees” for the Jews. The Bible refers to the fig over 270 times. The image of peace and happiness in Israel was “every man under his vine and under his fig tree” (1 Kings 4:25).
Wild figs are common throughout the tropical world; there are at least eight hundred species of Ficus, thirty-two in southern Africa alone. The banyan, peepul, and bo are all types of fig. The fruits of wild fig trees are not nearly as juicy or sweet as those of the domesticated ones. In many places people eat the fruit when they find it in the wild, but do not market it or cultivate the trees. Translators are urged to use the local word, and, if necessary, use a footnote to indicate the difference between the local one and the biblical one. Where it is not known at all, transliterations from a major language may be used in nonfigurative contexts.
The olive family has over four hundred species in the world. Many of them grow in Africa, India, and Australia, but it is the one in the Bible, the European Olive Olea europaea, that has become famous. It is likely that the olive was domesticated in Egypt or the eastern Mediterranean basin in the third millennium B.C. The botanist Newberry argued that Egypt was its original home. We know from the Bible that olives grew in the hills of Samaria and in the foothills. There is a wild variety, called Olea europaea sylvestris, that is smaller than the domestic one; it produces a smaller fruit with less oil. The Apostle Paul refers to this wild variety in Romans 11:17 and 11:24. Olives are easily propagated by cuttings and by grafting fruitful species into less fruitful ones. They grow best on hillsides where the rain drains off quickly. The fruit forms by August but does not ripen until December or January.
The olive is not a big tree, reaching up to perhaps 10 meters (33 feet), but with pruning it is usually kept to around 5 meters (17 feet) tall. The leaves are grayish green above, and whitish underneath. The bark of young trees is silvery gray but gets darker and rougher as the tree ages. The trunk also gets twisted and hollow and may reach over a meter in thickness. Olives grow for hundreds of years, and some in Israel have possibly reached two thousand years.
The fruit of the olive is about 2 centimeters (1 inch) long and a bit more than a centimeter (1/2 inch) thick. It has a hard stone inside and a soft skin that covers the oily flesh. Today a mature tree may yield 10-20 kilograms (22-44 pounds) of fruit, which, when processed, will yield 1.3-2.6 kilograms (3.6 pounds) of oil.
For the Jews the “big three” trees were the vine, the fig, and the olive. People ate olive fruits, but more importantly, they squeezed the oil from the fruits, and used it for cooking, for lamps, for rubbing on the body, for medicine, and in religion. Jacob poured olive oil on the stone where he saw a vision of angels, declaring it a holy place (Genesis 28:18). Moses, similarly, anointed the Tabernacle and its equipment with olive oil mixed with sweet-smelling resins (Exodus 40:9). Aaron and the priests who served in the Tabernacle were also anointed (Exodus 29:21).
Some types of wild olive grow in Africa, India, and Australia, but are not well-known. The so-called “African olive” produces a black, oil-bearing fruit much like an olive. It is common as a snack in northern Nigeria. The “Chinese olive” is also a species of Canarium and may be a possible cultural substitute, if it produces edible fruit and oil. The “Russian olive” grown in dry regions of the world is a member of the Elaeagnus family and not a true olive. A variety of olive (Olea cuspidate) is used for building in India and Nepal, but it is probably not possible to use it in the Bible except perhaps in a study Bible where you could say that the biblical olive was related to this tree.
Since most of the kinds of olive trees in the world do not have edible fruit, it may not be possible to substitute a local variety. If it is done, however, a footnote would be required saying that the Palestinian kind produced edible fruit and oil. If a variety of Canarium is eaten in your area, you could use the local name for it. Otherwise transliterate from a major language.
For the next two examples, James turns to plants. A fruit tree produces fruit according to its nature, and no tree can bear two different kinds of fruits. The idea is similar to Jesus’ teaching about the good tree producing good fruit (Matt 7.16), but the language is different.
The point is emphasized by repeating the address my brethren. Here again we may wish to render it inclusively as “my brothers and sisters” (New Revised Standard Version) or “my friends” (Revised English Bible). (See also comments at 1.2.)
Fig tree, olives, and grapevine are very common plants in the Middle East. The reference to these fruits does not keep to the precise point made in verses 10 and 11. To be fully logical, James would have to speak of a fruit tree bearing two kinds of fruit. However, it is not necessary for the analogy to be as precise in detail as this. The point James wants to make is clear enough: just as it is out of the question for one fruit tree to produce a different fruit against its nature, in the same way the presence of good and bad speech in one Christian person is inadmissible and self-contradictory. The verb yield may be rendered “produce” (Goodspeed, Barclay, Revised English Bible) or “bear” (Good News Translation, New International Version).
In translation we may break the sentence into two; for example, “Can a fig tree bear olives? Or can a grapevine bear figs?” Again these rhetorical questions, expecting a negative answer, may be rendered as negative statements, as Good News Translation has done. Another way to handle this is to add the answer “Of course not” at the end of the questions, as Translator’s New Testament has done. In cultures where “figs,” “olives,” and “grapes” do not exist and there are no words for these types of fruit, translators may use cultural equivalents; for example, “a mango tree cannot produce bananas; a breadfruit tree cannot produce custard apples.” The point here is that a tree produces only its own kind of fruit.
James closes this section by going back to the contrast of two different kinds of water. There are a couple of textual variants in the last sentence No more can salt water yield fresh. Some manuscripts add “so” or “similarly” before the negative in order to harmonize and to enhance the comparison. But this adverb is absent from important manuscripts and so represents a later attempt to smooth out the connection. A second problem is seen in the King James Version rendering “so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh,” where the words “so,” “no fountain both,” and “and” represent a different Greek text than that translated by Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation. Obviously the word “fountain” is added after “salty” to avoid the strange and difficult notion that salty water can produce fresh. The most reliable text, adopted by Revised Standard Version and most modern translations, is perfectly intelligible though a bit awkward. The use of the word salt here, instead of “bitter” in verse 11, probably has no significance; it is simply a matter of stylistic variation. The salt water may be taken to be a salt water spring, thus the rendering “salty spring” (Good News Translation, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch; similar also Goodspeed). The Contemporary English Version rendering provides a good alternative translation model: “Does fresh water come from a well full of salt water?” This translation seems to take account of the fact that in most places known by human beings springs normally don’t produce salt water.
Quoted with permission from Loh, I-Jin and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Letter from James. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
can a fig tree grow olives, or a grapevine bear figs?: This is a rhetorical question. James used this question to rebuke his readers by emphasizing a well-known fact: each plant produces its own kind of fruit. He was saying that a fig tree certainly cannot produce olives and a grapevine cannot produce figs. This means that good people should not produce curses.
Some ways to translate this emphasis are:
• As a rhetorical question. For example:
Can a fig tree produce olives…or a vine produce figs? (NET Bible)
-or-
A fig tree cannot bear olives, and a grapevine cannot bear figs, right?
• As a statement. For example:
A fig tree…cannot bear olives; a grapevine cannot bear figs (Good News Translation)
-or-
A fig tree certainly cannot produce olives, and a grapevine certainly cannot produce figs.
Translate this emphasis in a way that is natural in your language.
fig tree…olives…grapevine…figs: In many languages, there are no words for the exact kinds of trees and fruit that James mentions here. However, the important part of the meaning here is not the exact kind of tree or fruit. The point is the fact that a tree cannot bear fruit that is not of its own kind.
James used these particular trees and fruits in his illustration because they were common in the region where he lived. Figs were a delicious fruit that was typical of the good things of that land. Olives were important as the main source oil used for cooking in that region. Grapes were squeezed to obtain juice, which was made into wine, the main drink of the region.
One way to translate these terms is to use trees and fruit that are common in your area. For example:
Does a guava tree produce mangos? Or does a passion fruit vine produce guavas? Of course not!
3:12a
My brothers: Once again, James used the term of address My brothers to soften the rebuke in 3:10–12.
See the notes on “my brothers” at 1:2a and 3:10b.
3:12c
Neither: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Neither introduces the last sentence of this paragraph. Some other ways to begin this sentence are:
Likewise
-or-
In the same way (God’s Word)
-or-
It is just as impossible (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)
The picture has changed from trees and their fruit back to a spring and its water. The point here is not only that one kind of spring cannot produce water of a different kind. The point is that a bad spring cannot produce good water. (The translation of King James Version “so can no fountain [that is, spring] both yield salt water and fresh” depends on different manuscript copies from the ones followed by the modern versions. The text followed by King James Version says the same thing in other words as 3:11, but the text that Berean Standard Bible and the other modern versions follow says that bad cannot produce good. This is an advance in James’ argument, preparing the way for the next section 3:13–18. Therefore it seems likely that the text followed here by King James Version is not original, and so it is not recommended.) The implied information is that bad people cannot produce good praise to God.
salt spring: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as salt spring is literally “salty.” (The noun spring is not in the Greek text here but is implied from 3:11.) This word is different than the word meaning “bitter” (Berean Standard Bible “salt”) in 3:11. But the meaning is similar. It refers to a spring that always produces water that is not good to drink.
Some other ways to translate this word are:
a spring whose water tastes salty
-or-
a spring that produces water not fit to drink
In Israel, there are springs that are so full of minerals that it is not safe to drink the water. If salt springs are unknown in your area, you may want to replace salt spring with something that is more common in your area. For example:
a salty pool (New Living Translation, 1996 edition)
-or-
a salt pond (English Standard Version)
-or-
a well that gives foul water
fresh water: Here the phrase fresh water refers to water that tastes good. This same word occurs in 3:11.
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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.
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