salt of the earth

[sheilam]

correct wording of "The salt of the earth"

[NoGood Boyo]

Salt: Many metaphoric uses reflect that this was once a rare and important resource, cf. worth one's salt (1830), salt of the earth (O.E., after Matt. v:13), which says: �You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its salty taste, it cannot be made salty again. It is good for nothing, except to be thrown out and walked on.� Notes For thousands of years, salt has been a really important substance. It has been used for flavouring foods, preserving meats and even cleaning wounds. The phrase �salt of the earth� is still used today to describe truly decent people. When Jesus talked to his followers about being salt, he was explaining that if they lived their lives by God�s ideals then the world would be a much better place. He was talking about people who would �flavour� the world with goodness. He was challenging people to preserve truth and to get cleaned up. Salt loses its flavour when it�s diluted or left for ages and not used. So, you don�t need to be clever to work out what Jesus was getting at by using salt as his example. Salt that isn�t salty is useless. Christians that don�t listen to God are just as bad apparently.

[Peter Pedant]

I checked Matt 5 :13

the words are (my transliteration):

humeis este to halas tees gees

and that is YOU are the salt of the earth.

the next sentence is more difficult, an if,then clause, and this is one of the things the King james translators did not do well. - if the salt loses its strength,how will it be made salty again.

It doesnt surprise me you were wondering what the true wording was. The King James Bible has the best English but is limited by the fact they didnt know how the new testament greek verb worked.

Susprisingly enough we know what the King James translators were thinking when they translated because one of them kept a diary.