KJV: 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.
YLT: 'Ye are the salt of the land, but if the salt may lose savour, in what shall it be salted? for nothing is it good henceforth, except to be cast without, and to be trodden down by men.
Darby: Ye are the salt of the earth; but if the salt have become insipid, wherewith shall it be salted? It is no longer fit for anything but to be cast out and to be trodden under foot by men.
ASV: Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men.
| ἅλας | salt |
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Parse: Noun, Nominative Neuter Singular Root: ἅλα Sense: salt with which food is seasoned and sacrifices are sprinkled. |
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| τῆς | of the |
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Parse: Article, Genitive Feminine Singular Root: ὁ Sense: this, that, these, etc. |
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| γῆς | earth |
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Parse: Noun, Genitive Feminine Singular Root: γῆ Sense: arable land. |
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| δὲ | however |
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Parse: Conjunction Root: δέ Sense: but, moreover, and, etc. |
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| μωρανθῇ | becomes tasteless |
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Parse: Verb, Aorist Subjunctive Passive, 3rd Person Singular Root: μωραίνω Sense: to be foolish, to act foolishly. |
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| ἁλισθήσεται | will it be salted |
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Parse: Verb, Future Indicative Passive, 3rd Person Singular Root: ἁλίζω Sense: to salt, season with salt, sprinkle with salt. |
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| οὐδὲν | nothing |
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Parse: Adjective, Accusative Neuter Singular Root: οὐδείς Sense: no one, nothing. |
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| ἰσχύει | it is potent |
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Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular Root: ἰσχύω Sense: to be strong. |
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| ἔτι | any longer |
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Parse: Adverb Root: ἔτι Sense: yet, still. |
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| βληθὲν | having been cast |
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Parse: Verb, Aorist Participle Passive, Nominative Neuter Singular Root: βάλλω Sense: to throw or let go of a thing without caring where it falls. |
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| ἔξω | out |
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Parse: Adverb Root: ἔξω Sense: without, out of doors. |
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| καταπατεῖσθαι | to be trampled upon |
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Parse: Verb, Present Infinitive Middle or Passive Root: καταπατέω Sense: to tread down, trample under foot, to trample on. |
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| τῶν | - |
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Parse: Article, Genitive Masculine Plural Root: ὁ Sense: this, that, these, etc. |
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| ἀνθρώπων | men |
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Parse: Noun, Genitive Masculine Plural Root: ἄνθρωπος Sense: a human being, whether male or female. |
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Greek Commentary for Matthew 5:13
The verb is from μωρος mōros (dull, sluggish, stupid, foolish) and means to play the fool, to become foolish, of salt become tasteless, insipid (Mark 9:50). It is common in Syria and Palestine to see salt scattered in piles on the ground because it has lost its flavour, “hae tint its tang” (Braid Scots), the most worthless thing imaginable. Jesus may have used here a current proverb. [source]
The kindred noun ( μωρός ) means dull, sluggish; applied to the mind, stupid or silly; applied to the taste, insipid, flat. The verb here used of salt, to become insipid, also means to play the fool. Our Lord refers here to the familiar fact of salt losing its pungency and becoming useless. Dr. Thompson (“The Land and the Book”) cites the following case: “A merchant of Sidon, having farmed of the government the revenue from the importation of salt, brought over a great quantity from the marshes of Cyprus - enough, in fact, to supply the whole province for many years. This he had transferred to the mountains, to cheat the government out of some small percentage of duty. Sixty-five houses were rented and filled with salt. Such houses have merely earthen floors, and the salt next the ground was in a few years entirely spoiled. I saw large quantities of it literally thrown into the road to be trodden under foot of men and beasts. It was 'good for nothing.'” [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Matthew 5:13
It was not the first time that Jesus had used parables, but the first time that he had spoken so many and some of such length. He will use a great many in the future as in Luke 12 to 18 and Matt. 24 and 25. The parables already mentioned in Matthew include the salt and the light (Matthew 5:13-16), the birds and the lilies (Matthew 6:26-30), the splinter and the beam in the eye (Matthew 7:3-5), the two gates (Matthew 7:13.), the wolves in sheep‘s clothing (Matthew 7:15), the good and bad trees (Matthew 7:17-19), the wise and foolish builders (Matthew 7:24-27), the garment and the wineskins (Matthew 9:16.), the children in the market places (Matthew 11:16.). It is not certain how many he spoke on this occasion. Matthew mentions eight in this chapter (the Sower, the Tares, the Mustard Seed, the Leaven, the Hid Treasure, the Pearl of Great Price, the Net, the Householder). Mark adds the Parable of the Lamp (Mark 4:21; Luke 8:16), the Parable of the Seed Growing of Itself (Mark 4:26-29), making ten of which we know. But both Mark (Mark 4:33) and Matthew (Matthew 13:34) imply that there were many others. “Without a parable spake he nothing unto them” (Matthew 13:34), on this occasion, we may suppose. The word parable There are parables in the Old Testament, in the Talmud, in sermons in all ages. But no one has spoken such parables as these of Jesus. They hold the mirror up to nature and, as all illustrations should do, throw light on the truth presented. The fable puts things as they are not in nature, Aesop‘s Fables, for instance. The parable may not be actual fact, but it could be so. It is harmony with the nature of the case. The allegory John does not use the word parable, but only παροιμια paroimia a saying by the way (John 10:6; John 16:25, John 16:29). As a rule the parables of Jesus illustrate one main point and the details are more or less incidental, though sometimes Jesus himself explains these. When he does not do so, we should be slow to interpret the minor details. Much heresy has come from fantastic interpretations of the parables. In the case of the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:3-8) we have also the careful exposition of the story by Jesus (Matthew 13:18-23) as well as the reason for the use of parables on this occasion by Jesus (Matthew 13:9-17). [source]
Lit., may have become saltless. Compare on Matthew 5:13. [source]
Jesus had once called them the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13) and had warned them against losing the saltness of the salt. If it is analon nothing can season (artuō) it and it is of no use to season anything else. It is like an exploded shell, a burnt-out crater, a spent force. This is a warning for all Christians. [source]
See on Matthew 5:13. [source]
From ἰσχύς , strength. See on power, 2 Peter 2:11. To be strong in body or in resources, and so to be worth, as Lat., valere. “This man was not worth enough, or was not good for the completion.” In this latter sense, Matthew 5:13, “good for nothing.” [source]
A beatitude, the same adjective as in Matthew 5:3-11. A beatitude of privilege very much like that in Matthew 5:13-16. Jesus often repeated his sayings. [source]
Impersonal plural. This saying about salt is another of Christ‘s repeated sayings (Matthew 5:13; Mark 9:50). Another repeated saying is the one here about having ears to hear (Luke 8:8; Luke 14:35, Matthew 11:15; Matthew 13:43). [source]
Three words are used in the New Testament for man: ἄῤῥην , or ἄρσην , ἀνήρ , and ἄνθρωπος . Ἄρσην marks merely the sexual distinction, male (Romans 1:27; Revelation 12:5, Revelation 12:13). Ἁνήρ denotes the man as distinguished from the woman, as male or as a husband (Acts 8:12; Matthew 1:16), or from a boy (Matthew 14:21). Also man as endowed with courage, intelligence, strength, and other noble attributes (1 Corinthians 13:11; Ephesians 4:13; James 3:2). Ἄνθρωπος is generic, without distinction of sex, a human being (John 16:21), though often used in connections which indicate or imply sex, as Matthew 19:10; Matthew 10:35. Used of mankind (Matthew 4:4), or of the people (Matthew 5:13, Matthew 5:16; Matthew 6:5, Matthew 6:18; John 6:10). Of man as distinguished from animals or plants (Matthew 4:19; 2 Peter 2:16), and from God, Christ as divine and angels (Matthew 10:32; John 10:33; Luke 2:15). With the notion of weakness leading to sin, and with a contemptuous sense (1 Corinthians 2:5; 1 Peter 4:2; John 5:12; Romans 9:20). The more honorable and noble sense thus attaches to ἀνήρ rather than to ἄνθρωπος . Thus Herodotus says that when the Medes charged the Greeks, they fell in vast numbers, so that it was manifest to Xerxes that he had many men combatants ( ἄνθρωποι ) but few warriors ( ἄνθρωποι ) vii., 210. So Homer: “O friends, be men ( ἀνέρες ), and take on a stout heart” (“Iliad,” v., 529). Ἁνήρ is therefore used here of Jesus by the Baptist with a sense of dignity. Compare ἄνθρωπος , in John 1:6, where the word implies no disparagement, but is simply indefinite. In John ἀνήρ has mostly the sense of husband (John 4:16-18). See John 6:10. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- [source]
Only in this epistle. See on have lost his savor, Matthew 5:13. [source]
Strong negative form with aorist active indicative difficult of precise translation, “Did not God make foolish?” The old verb μωραινω mōrainō from μωρος mōros foolish, was to be foolish, to act foolish, then to prove one foolish as here or to make foolish as in Romans 1:22. In Matthew 5:13; Luke 14:34 it is used of salt that is tasteless. World (κοσμου kosmou). Synonymous with αιων aiōn (age), orderly arrangement, then the non-Christian cosmos. [source]
Old word to have strength See Matthew 5:13. Neither Jew nor Greek has any recommendation in his state. See Galatians 3:28. All stand on a level in Christ. [source]
In Pastorals only here and Titus 3:9. Μωρός means dull, sluggish, stupid: applied to the taste, flat, insipid: comp. μωρανθῇ havelost his savor, Matthew 5:13. In Pastorals never substantively, a fool, but so in 1 Corinthians 3:18; 1 Corinthians 4:10. Comp. ἄφρων , 1 Corinthians 15:36. [source]
Instrumental case of degree or measure. An argument from the less to the greater, “the first of Hillel‘s seven rules for exegesis” (Moffatt). Think ye An appeal to their own sense of justice about apostates from Christ. Sorer “Worse,” comparative of κακος kakos (bad). Punishment Genitive case with αχιωτησεται axiōthēsetai (first future passive of αχιοω axioō to deem worthy). The word τιμωρια timōria originally meant vengeance. Old word, in lxx, only here in N.T. Who hath trodden under foot the Son of God First aorist active articular participle of καταπατεω katapateō old verb (Matthew 5:13) for scornful neglect like Zechariah 12:3. See same idea in Hebrews 6:6. Wherewith he was sanctified First aorist passive indicative of αγιαζω hagiazō It is an unspeakable tragedy that should warn every follower of Christ not to play with treachery to Christ (cf. Hebrews 6:4-8). An unholy thing Common in the sense of uncleanness as Peter used it in Acts 10:14. Think of one who thus despises “the blood of Christ wherewith he was sanctified.” And yet there are a few today who sneer at the blood of Christ and the gospel based on his atoning sacrifice as “a slaughter house” religion! Hath done despite First aorist active participle of ενυβριζω enubrizō old verb to treat with contumely, to give insult to, here only in the N.T. It is a powerful word for insulting the Holy Spirit after receiving his blessings (Hebrews 6:4). [source]