Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, with what will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”
Parallel translations
- KJV Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.
- BSB Salt is good, but if the salt loses its saltiness, with what will you season it? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”
- NKJV Salt is good, but if the salt loses its flavor, how will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace with one another.”
- NASB Salt is good; but if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”
- NLT Salt is good for seasoning. But if it loses its flavor, how do you make it salty again? You must have the qualities of salt among yourselves and live in peace with each other.”
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
Salt is good, but useless if it loses its saltiness; disciples must keep their distinctiveness and live at peace. Genuine discipleship preserves its God-given character and fosters harmony.
Overview
Drawing on salt's preserving and seasoning role, Jesus warns against a discipleship that loses its distinct flavor and usefulness. "Have salt in yourselves" calls for inward grace that shapes character. The closing command to be at peace with one another circles back to the disciples' rivalry, redirecting them from ambition to humble unity.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 26
- Col 4:6Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.
- Rom 12:18If it is possible, as much as it is up to you, be at peace with all men.
- Matt 5:13“You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its flavor, with what will it be salted? It is then good for nothing, but to be cast out and trodden under the feet of men.
- 2 Cor 13:11Finally, brothers, rejoice. Be perfected, be comforted, be of the same mind, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.
- Heb 12:14Follow after peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no man will see the Lord,
- Phil 1:27Only let your way of life be worthy of the Good News of Christ, that, whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your state, that you stand firm in one spirit, with one soul striving for the faith of the Good News;
- Job 6:6Can that which has no flavor be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?
- Luke 14:34–35Salt is good, but if the salt becomes flat and tasteless, with what do you season it?
- 1 Th 5:13and to respect and honor them in love for their work’s sake. Be at peace among yourselves.
- Eph 4:31–32Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, outcry, and slander, be put away from you, with all malice.
- Eph 4:29Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but only what is good for building others up as the need may be, that it may give grace to those who hear.
- 2 Tim 2:22Flee from youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
- Gal 5:22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith,
- 1 Pet 3:8Finally, be all like-minded, compassionate, loving as brothers, tender hearted, courteous,
- Phil 2:1–3If there is therefore any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassion,
- Jas 3:14–18But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, don’t boast and don’t lie against the truth.
- Jas 1:20for the anger of man doesn’t produce the righteousness of God.
- Eph 4:2–6with all lowliness and humility, with patience, bearing with one another in love;
- John 13:34–35A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also love one another.
- Col 3:12Put on therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, humility, and perseverance;
- Ps 34:14Depart from evil, and do good. seek peace, and pursue it.
- Mark 9:34But they were silent, for they had disputed one with another on the way about who was the greatest.
- John 15:17–18“I command these things to you, that you may love one another.
- Ps 133:1A Song of Ascents. By David. See how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to live together in unity!
- Gal 5:14–15For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
- Rom 14:17–19for God’s Kingdom is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
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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 9:50 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
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