James 3:12

⁴³“For there is no good tree that produces rotten fruit, nor again a rotten tree that produces good fruit. ⁴⁴For each tree is known by its own fruit. For people don’t gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush.

³³“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree corrupt and its fruit corrupt; for the tree is known by its fruit.

¹⁶By their fruits you will know them. Do you gather grapes from thorns or figs from thistles? ¹⁷Even so, every good tree produces good fruit, but the corrupt tree produces evil fruit. ¹⁸A good tree can’t produce evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree produce good fruit. ¹⁹Every tree that doesn’t grow good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

²¹Yet I had planted you a noble vine, a pure and faithful seed. How then have you turned into the degenerate branches of a foreign vine to me?

¹⁶If the first fruit is holy, so is the lump. If the root is holy, so are the branches. ¹⁷But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the root and of the richness of the olive tree, ¹⁸don’t boast over the branches. But if you boast, remember that it is not you who support the root, but the root supports you.

²He dug it up, gathered out its stones, planted it with the choicest vine, built a tower in the middle of it, and also cut out a wine press in it. He looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. ³“Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, please judge between me and my vineyard. ⁴What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? Why, when I looked for it to yield grapes, did it yield wild grapes?

⁸Then he said to me, “These waters flow out toward the eastern region and will go down into the Arabah. Then they will go toward the sea and flow into the sea which will be made to flow out; and the waters will be healed. ⁹It will happen that every living creature which swarms, in every place where the rivers come, will live. Then there will be a very great multitude of fish; for these waters have come there, and the waters of the sea will be healed, and everything will live wherever the river comes. ¹⁰It will happen that fishermen will stand by it. From En Gedi even to En Eglaim will be a place for the spreading of nets. Their fish will be after their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceedingly many. ¹¹But its swamps and marshes will not be healed. They will be given up to salt.

¹⁹The men of the city said to Elisha, “Behold, please, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees; but the water is bad, and the land is barren.”

²⁰He said, “Bring me a new jar, and put salt in it.” Then they brought it to him. ²¹He went out to the spring of the waters, and threw salt into it, and said, “The LORD says, ‘I have healed these waters. There shall not be from there any more death or barren wasteland.’” ²²So the waters were healed to this day, according to Elisha’s word which he spoke.

²³When they came to Marah, they couldn’t drink from the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore its name was called Marah.^24[+] The people murmured against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” ²⁵Then he cried to the LORD. The LORD showed him a tree, and he threw it into the waters, and the waters were made sweet. There he made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there he tested them.