ἅλας

From the study of Colossians 4:6

Range of meaning

Salt: a seasoning, a preservative, a sign of covenant and shared meals ('covenant of salt', Numbers 18:19), and part of sacrifices (Leviticus 2:13). Used of speech in Greek and Latin, 'salt' meant wit, sharpness, liveliness and good taste in conversation.

Against the English

Most English versions keep 'seasoned with salt'. NLT drops the image for 'attractive'. Modern English slang has drifted further: 'salty' now means bitter, irritable or crude, which is close to the opposite of what Paul meant.

How it drifted

English readers mostly know salt as a preservative (from sermon tradition on Matthew 5:13) or from the slang 'salty'. The classical idiom of salt as wit has largely disappeared from English, apart from the phrase 'Attic salt'.

Used elsewhere in the period

Greek writers used 'salts' (hales) for wit, and Latin sal meant wit and elegance in speech (Cicero uses it this way). Plutarch's Table Talk (Moralia 684F–685A) discusses salt as what makes food agreeable and notes that some call it 'graces' (charites), which joins the same two ideas Paul puts side by side. In the Jesus tradition, Mark 9:50 says 'have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another'. In Matthew 5:13 and Luke 14:34 salt that has lost its taste is described with the verb mōrainō, literally 'become foolish', which points to an association between salt and wisdom.

From the study of Matthew 5:13

Range of meaning

Salt as a substance. The Koine form is ἅλας; the classical form is ἅλς. In Jewish and Greco-Roman life salt did many jobs:

• flavouring (Job 6:6: 'Can tasteless food be eaten without salt?')
• preserving fish, especially around the Sea of Galilee (Magdala's Greek name, Taricheae, means 'salted-fish works'), and meat
• sacrifice: every grain offering was to be salted, 'the salt of the covenant of your God' (Lev 2:13; Ezek 43:24)
• covenant and loyalty: 'a covenant of salt' (Num 18:19; 2 Chr 13:5); eating someone's salt bound you to them (Ezra 4:14)
• purifying (Elisha's salt heals the spring, 2 Kgs 2:19–22; newborns rubbed with salt, Ezek 16:4)
• soil and manure in small amounts (compare Luke 14:35)
• in large amounts, barrenness: sowing a city with salt (Judg 9:45).

Against the English

English 'salt' is accurate. Modern readers mostly think of the white table shaker and miss how many jobs salt did, and how sacred it was, in the ancient world.

How it drifted

Little drift in the word itself. The drift lies in the English idiom 'salt of the earth' (see drift section).

Used elsewhere in the period

LXX uses ἅλας/ἅλς for Hebrew melaḥ throughout (Lev 2:13; Num 18:19). Greek writers and Pliny (Natural History bk 31) discuss salt's many uses. Later rabbinic tradition compares Torah to salt and says the world cannot do without salt (tractate Soferim 15:8). That source is later than Jesus but shows how the image could be used. Paul's 'let your speech be seasoned with salt' (Col 4:6) links salt with wise, gracious speech.

From the study of Luke 14:34

Range of meaning

Salt. In the ancient world it seasoned food, preserved meat and fish, was added to every grain offering (Lev 2:13), was rubbed on newborns (Ezek 16:4), and stood for lasting, binding loyalty: "a covenant of salt" (Num 18:19; 2 Chr 13:5). It could also stand for wisdom or gracious speech (Col 4:6), and some rabbinic sayings compare the Torah to salt.

Against the English

"Salt" is accurate. The difference is in the substance. Modern readers picture refined, pure sodium chloride. Most salt in Roman Palestine was scraped from the Dead Sea shore or from salt marshes and was mixed with other minerals.

How it drifted

Modern refined salt makes the saying sound chemically impossible, which sends readers off to defend or explain it rather than hear its point.

Used elsewhere in the period

Lev 2:13; Num 18:19; 2 Kgs 2:20–21; Ezek 43:24; Job 6:6; Sir 39:26 (salt among life's basic necessities); Pliny the Elder's Natural History book 31 describes many kinds and uses of salt, including impure and mineral salts.