salt of the earth

MATTHEW 5:13

KING JAMES VERSION (KJV)

WORDS OF JESUS IN RED

About this Quote

Jesus says in this scripture that believers are the “salt of the earth” which means acting with wisdom and grace exhibited in speech. If we do not behave in this way as Christians we are “good for nothing”, that is, rejected and essentially useless in upholding the ideals of living Christianity. As a result of this Bible scripture, the quote “salt of the earth” has become a popular metaphor for being good in the world.

Quote in Context

See the quote in bold below within its King James Bible verse.

Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

— Matthew 5:13

Scriptural Translation

What does this quote really mean?

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Quote words Original Greek Meaning/ Definition
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salt τὸ The (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom) G3588
of the τῆς The (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom) G3588
earth: γῆς· Soil; by extension a region, or the solid part or the whole of the terrene globe (including the occupants in each application) G1093

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Sources

The King James Bible text is sourced from the BibleForgeDB database (https://github.com/bibleforge) within the BibleForge project (http://bibleforge.com). Popularity rankings are based on search volume data from the Google AdWords Keyword Planner tool.


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