Your speech should always be favorable, seasoned with salt [i.e., interesting and appropriate], so that you may know how to properly answer each person [you talk with].
Matthew 5:13 - An Understandable Version (2005 edition) “You people are [like] salt on the earth. But if salt loses its flavoring ability, how will it ever get it back again? From then on it would be good for nothing except to be thrown out onto the roadway and walked on by people. [Note: This was mined salt which, when losing its “saltiness” due to exposure to the sun or rain, was simply disposed of by being dumped onto the roadway where people walked]. More versionsKing James Version (Oxford) 1769 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. Amplified Bible - Classic Edition You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste (its strength, its quality), how can its saltness be restored? It is not good for anything any longer but to be thrown out and trodden underfoot by men. American Standard Version (1901) 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. Common English Bible “You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its saltiness, how will it become salty again? It’s good for nothing except to be thrown away and trampled under people’s feet. Catholic Public Domain Version You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its saltiness, with what will it be salted? It is no longer useful at all, except to be cast out and trampled under by men. Douay-Rheims version of The Bible - 1752 version You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt lose its savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is good for nothing any more but to be cast out, and to be trodden on by men. |
Your speech should always be favorable, seasoned with salt [i.e., interesting and appropriate], so that you may know how to properly answer each person [you talk with].
How much more severely do you think a person deserves to be punished who has trampled on the Son of God and has regarded the blood of the [New] Agreement, with which he was set apart for God, an unholy thing and has insulted the Holy Spirit, through whom God’s unearned favor is shown?