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Colossians 4:6

Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.

KJV

ὁ λόγος ὑμῶν πάντοτε ἐν χάριτι, ἅλατι ἠρτυμένος, εἰδέναι πῶς δεῖ ὑμᾶς ἑνὶ ἑκάστῳ ἀποκρίνεσθαι.

Greek NT

Sermo vester semper in gratia sale sit conditus, ut sciatis quomodo oporteat vos unicuique respondere.

Vulgate

Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer each one.

ASV

Let your speech be always in grace seasoned with salt: that you may know how you ought to answer every man.

Douay-Rheims

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In this verse

Symbols Salt

In the original Greek

14 distinct Greek words appear in this verse.

δεῖ
dei
verb · 103×
εἴδω
eido
verb · 317×
εἷς
eis
adjective · 336×
λόγος
logos
noun · 330×
πάντοτε
pantote
adverb · 41×
πῶς
pos
adverb · 104×
χάρις
charis
noun · 155×
ἀποκρίνομαι
apokrinomai
verb · 233×
ἀρτύω
artuo
verb · 3×
ἅλας
alas
noun · 8×
ἐν
en
preposition · 2743×
ἕκαστος
ekastos
adjective · 84×
o
article · 19778×
ὑμεῖς
umeis
pronoun · 1828×

Themes

Historic Christian voices

5 passages from patristic writers, Reformers, and church catechisms citing this verse.

2. For with what judgment ye judge, says He, you shall be judged. Matthew 7:2 That is, it is not the other, says Christ, that you condemn, but yourself, and you are making the judgment-seat dreadful to yourself, and the account strict. As then in the forgiveness of our sins the beginnings are from us, so also in this judgment, it is by ourselves that the measures of our condemn…
Ye are the salt of the earth. Christianity, true scriptural Christianity, has a double office — to preserve and to season. It preserves the world from total corruption, and it diffuses its own flavor throughout. But if the salt have lost its savour, wherewith shall it be salted? A Christian who has lost his vital piety is the most useless of creatures.

Cross-references

  • 1Chr 16:24 — Declare his glory among the heathen; his marvellous works among all nations.
  • 1Pet 3:15 — But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:
  • 1Pet 3:15 — But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:
  • 1Pet 4:11 — If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be p
  • 2Kgs 2:20 — And he said, Bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein. And they brought it to him.
  • Col 3:16 — Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
  • Col 3:16 — Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
  • Col 4:4 — That I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak.
  • Deut 6:6 — And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
  • Deut 6:7 — And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
  • Deut 11:19 — And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
  • Eccl 10:12 — The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious; but the lips of a fool will swallow up himself.
  • Eccl 10:12 — The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious; but the lips of a fool will swallow up himself.
  • Eph 4:29 — Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
  • Eph 4:29 — Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
  • Ezek 43:24 — And 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.
  • Jas 1:26 — If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.
  • Job 6:6 — Can that which is unsavoury be eaten without salt? or is there any taste in the white of an egg?
  • Job 15:3 — Should he reason with unprofitable talk? or with speeches wherewith he can do no good?
  • John 8:7 — So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
  • Lev 2:13 — And 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 s
  • Lev 2:13 — And 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 s
  • Luke 4:22 — And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son?
  • Luke 6:45 — A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the
  • Luke 14:34 — Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned?
  • Luke 20:20 — And they watched him, and sent forth spies, which should feign themselves just men, that they might take hold of his words, that so they might deliver him unto the power and authority of the governor.
  • Mal 3:16 — Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon h
  • Mark 9:50 — 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.
  • Mark 9:50 — 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.
  • Mark 12:34 — And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question.
  • Matt 5:13 — Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
  • Matt 5:13 — Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
  • Matt 5:37 — But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.
  • Matt 12:34 — O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
  • Matt 12:35 — A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.
  • Prov 10:21 — The lips of the righteous feed many: but fools die for want of wisdom.
  • Prov 15:4 — A wholesome tongue is a tree of life: but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit.
  • Prov 15:7 — The lips of the wise disperse knowledge: but the heart of the foolish doeth not so.
  • Prov 16:21 — The wise in heart shall be called prudent: and the sweetness of the lips increaseth learning.
  • Prov 18:4 — The words of a man’s mouth are as deep waters, and the wellspring of wisdom as a flowing brook.