Translations
KJVPrimary
King James VersionSalt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned?
F.O.G.Secondary
The F.O.GSalt is good — but if even the salt loses its taste, what can make it salty again?
F.O.G.M.
F.O.G MessageSalt is good, but if salt loses its saltiness, how can it ever be made salty again?
BSB
Berean Standard BibleSalt is good, but if the salt loses its savor, with what will it be seasoned?
Footnotes
The Greek μωρανθῇ (from μωραίνω) carries a double meaning: "to become tasteless/insipid" and "to become foolish" — both senses are likely simultaneously active. In Aramaic, the word for salt (מִלְחָא, milḥā) relates to the domain of counsel and wisdom, making the loss of saltiness a possible wordplay on the loss of wisdom — a fitting image for disciples who abandon their calling while retaining the appearance of faithfulness. In the material world of first-century Palestine, salt extracted from the Dead Sea region could genuinely lose its sodium chloride through leaching, leaving a white mineral compound visually indistinguishable from salt but stripped of all preserving and flavouring power — intact in form, useless in function. The FOG renders "loses its taste" to stay anchored in physical reality; the FOG Message uses "loses its saltiness" to hold both physical and metaphorical registers open.
