For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.
Parallel translations
- WEB For everyone will be salted with fire, and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt.
- BSB For everyone will be salted with fire.
- NKJV “For everyone will be seasoned with fire, and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt.
- NASB For everyone will be salted with fire.
- NLT “For everyone will be tested with fire.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Everyone will be salted with fire. Jesus speaks of a refining, purifying testing that comes to all his followers.
Overview
This difficult saying joins the imagery of fire from the preceding verses to salt, evoking purification and sacrifice from the Old Testament (Leviticus 2:13). Most read it as the refining trials and self-denial that mark disciples, while some texts add a clause about sacrifices being salted. The thrust is that following Christ involves a costly, cleansing process.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 2
- Lev 2:13And every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt.
- Ezek 43:24And thou shalt offer them before the LORD, and the priests shall cast salt upon them, and they shall offer them up for a burnt offering unto the LORD.
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Christ at the center
Mark drives urgently to the cross, showing Jesus the Son of God as the suffering Servant who 'came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.'
How Mark 9:49 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.