The Fallible Study Bible

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Matthew5:13–16

Salt and Light

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Matthew 5:13–16 — Salt and Light. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

13

You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its savor, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Hymeis este to halas tēs gēs de ean to halas mōranthē en tini halisthēsetai ischyei eti eis ouden ei mē blēthen exō katapateisthai hypo tōn anthrōpōn

Word by word26 · parsed
ὙμεῖςHymeisYouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounNominative 2nd Person Plural
σύ: thou, here plural and emphatic The sermon turns here from describing blessed characters to naming persons. JFB marks the hinge: “from characters He comes to persons possessing them.” Benson insists the address is not narrowed to office holders, “Not the apostles, not ministers only; but all who possess and manifest the graces spoken of in the preceding verses”; Cambridge and Gill read it primarily of the apostles. The Greek pronoun settles only that it is emphatic, not who is in view.
ἐστεesteareG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
τὸtotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Neuter Singular
ἅλαςhalassaltG217
√ ἅλας — saltNounNominative Neuter Singular
ἅλας: salt A rare noun in the Greek New Testament (the Verifier counts it in 4 verses: here, Mark 9:50, Luke 14:34, Colossians 4:6). Pulpit refuses to choose between preservative and flavour: “it is therefore impossible for the one effect to be really separated from the other. Our Lord is thinking of the moral tone which his disciples are to give to humanity.” Ellicott adds the sacrificial use of salt behind Mark 9:49 as a probable further allusion.
τῆςtēsof theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
γῆςgēsearthG1093
√ γῆ — soilNounGenitive Feminine Singular
γῆ: soil, earth Genitive of the sphere acted on. Pulpit notes the deliberate contrast with kosmos in the next verse: gē “from its strong materialism had suited the figure of the salt.” Salt works inside a mass it touches; that is why the earth, not the world, is named here.
δὲdeButG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
δέ: but, and The adversative that opens the supposition.
ἐὰνeanifG1437
√ ἐάν — a conditional particleConjunction
τὸtotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Neuter Singular
ἅλαςhalassaltG217
√ ἅλας — saltNounNominative Neuter Singular
μωρανθῇmōranthēloses its savorG3471
√ μωραίνω — to become insipidVerbAorist Subjunctive Passive3rd Person Singular
μωραίνω: to become insipid, to be made foolish The theological weight of the verse sits here. Aorist subjunctive passive inside a conditional with ἐὰν: a supposed case, not an assertion. Gill presses exactly that: “this is but a supposition; if the salt, &c. and proves no matter of fact,” and he restricts what can be lost to gifts, doctrine and outward conversation rather than “the savour of grace, or true grace itself, which cannot be lost, being an incorruptible seed.” The same rare verb is what Paul turns on the world's wisdom in Romans 1:22 and 1 Corinthians 1:20.
ἐνenhowG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
τίνιtini. . .G5101
√ τίς — an interrogative pronoun, who, which or what (in direct or indirect questions)Interrogative / Indefinite PronounDative Neuter Singular
ἁλισθήσεταιhalisthēsetaican it be made salty againG233
√ ἁλίζω — to saltVerbFuture Indicative Passive3rd Person Singular
ἁλίζω: to salt Future indicative passive, rarer still (the Verifier finds this lexeme in only 2 verses, here and Mark 9:49). The question is a real one about a remedy, and Ellicott judges “the words imply a relative if not an absolute impossibility. If gifts, graces, blessings, a high calling, and a high work fail, what remains?” The salt is the seasoning agent; there is no second seasoner standing behind it.
ἰσχύειischyeiIt is no longer goodG2480
√ ἰσχύω — to have (or exercise) force (literally or figuratively)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ἰσχύω: to have or exercise force Present active, of the salt itself: it has no strength left for anything. Barnes explains the physical case behind the image, that eastern salt was “impure, or mingled with vegetable or earthy substances, so that it might lose the whole of its saltness, and a considerable quantity of earthy matter remain.”
ἔτιeti. . .G2089
√ ἔτι — "yet," still (of time or degree)Adverb
εἰςeisforG1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
οὐδὲνouden[anything]G3762
√ οὐδείς — not even one (man, woman or thing), iAdjectiveAccusative Neuter Singular
εἰeiexceptG1487
√ εἰ — if, whether, that, etcConjunction
μὴmē. . .G3361
√ μή — (adverb) not, (conjunction) lestAdverb
βληθὲνblēthento be thrownG906
√ βάλλω — to throw (in various applications, more or less violent or intense)VerbAorist Participle PassiveNominative Neuter Singular
βάλλω: to throw, with violence or intensity Not a gentle setting aside. The aorist passive participle makes the spoiled salt the object of somebody else's decisive act.
ἔξωexōoutG1854
√ ἔξω — out(-side, of doors), literally or figurativelyAdverb
καταπατεῖσθαιkatapateisthai[and] trampledG2662
√ καταπατέω — to trample downVerbPresent Infinitive Middle or Passive
καταπατέω: to trample down Another rare verb (5 verses). Ellicott records a concrete practice from the Talmud, that salt unfit for sacrificial use “was sprinkled in wet weather upon the slopes and steps of the temple to prevent the feet of the priests from slipping.” If that is the background, the picture is sharper than contempt: the rejected salt still lies in the house of God, but underfoot. The same verb carries the warning of Hebrews 10:29.
ὑπὸhypobyG5259
√ ὑπό — under, iPreposition
τῶνtōnG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
ἀνθρώπωνanthrōpōnmenG444
√ ἄνθρωπος — from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι))NounGenitive Masculine Plural
ἄνθρωπος: man, human being Genitive of agent after ὑπὸ. The same word returns in v. 16 as the audience of the shining, so the unit frames the disciples between two crowds: one that tramples, one that sees and glorifies.
14

You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Hymeis este to phōs tou kosmou polis keimenē epanō orous dynatai ou krybēnai

Word by word13 · parsed
ὙμεῖςHymeisYouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounNominative 2nd Person Plural
σύ: thou, plural and emphatic again The second emphatic pronoun in two verses. What was said of salt is now said of light, of the same people, with no softening.
ἐστεesteareG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
τὸtotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Neuter Singular
φῶςphōslightG5457
√ φῶς — compare G5316 (φαίνω), G5346 (φημί))NounNominative Neuter Singular
φῶς: light The title is Christ's own in John 8:12, and every commentator in this brief feels the pressure. JFB is the sharpest: since it is “the distinctive title which our Lord appropriates to Himself,” it “must be applied here by our Lord to His disciples only as they shine with His light upon the world, in virtue of His Spirit dwelling in them.” Ellicott and Benson say the same in gentler words: a derived brightness from the Fount of light.
τοῦtouof theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
κόσμουkosmouworldG2889
√ κόσμος — orderly arrangement, iNounGenitive Masculine Singular
κόσμος: orderly arrangement, world Genitive of the sphere. Pulpit notes that as regards the disciples the word “must, indeed, be limited to this earth, but as regards the light, need not be limited to less than the solar system.”
πόλιςpolisA cityG4172
√ πόλις — a town (properly, with walls, of greater or less size)NounNominative Feminine Singular
πόλις: a town, properly with walls A walled town, therefore a settled and defended community, not a scattering of houses. Ellicott hears behind it “the prophetic visions of the Zion of the future,” Isaiah 2:2 and Micah 4:1, and draws the conclusion that “no image could so vividly set forth the calling of the Church of Christ as a visible society.”
κειμένηkeimenēG2749
√ κεῖμαι — to lie outstretched (literally or figuratively)VerbPresent Participle Middle or PassiveNominative Feminine Singular
κεῖμαι: to lie outstretched, to be set A middle or passive participle: the city's position is something it is in, not something it achieves. The conspicuity that follows is therefore a given condition, which is why the next verse can treat hiding as a perverse act against the nature of the thing.
ἐπάνωepanōonG1883
√ ἐπάνω — up above, iPreposition
ὄρουςorousa hillG3735
√ ὄρος — perhaps akin to G142 (αἴρω)NounGenitive Neuter Singular
ὄρος: mountain, hill The same word used of the mountain of v. 1 from which the sermon is preached. Commentators differ on whether a particular town was in view: Ellicott and Barnes favour Safed, Cambridge holds that the picture “recalls Judæa rather than Galilee,” and Gill offers Nazareth, Capernaum or Jerusalem. The text names no city.
δύναταιdynataicannotG1410
√ δύναμαι — to be able or possibleVerbPresent Indicative Middle or Passive3rd Person Singular
δύναμαι: to be able or possible Present middle or passive. The inability is structural, not moral.
οὐou. . .G3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
κρυβῆναιkrybēnaibe hiddenG2928
√ κρύπτω — to conceal (properly, by covering)VerbAorist Infinitive Passive
κρύπτω: to conceal, properly by covering Aorist passive infinitive. Concealment would have to be done to the city from outside, and the terrain forbids it. Poole draws the pastoral edge: “You had need be holy, for your conversation cannot be hid.”
15

Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a basket. Instead, they set it on a stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

oude kaiousin lychnon kai titheasin auton hypo ton modion all’ epi tēn lychnian kai lampei pasin tois en tē oikia

Word by word20 · parsed
οὐδὲoudeNeitherG3761
√ οὐδέ — not however, iConjunction
οὐδέ: not however, neither Ties the lamp to the city: neither case is accidental.
καίουσινkaiousindo [people] lightG2545
√ καίω — to set on fire, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
καίω: to set on fire, to kindle The verb assumes an agent outside the lamp. Poole builds the whole application on it: “You ought also to consider the end why I have communicated of my light unto you,” and closes with the warning that “others' pretended candles were never of God's lighting.”
λύχνονlychnona lampG3088
√ λύχνος — a portable lamp or other illuminator (literally or figuratively)NounAccusative Masculine Singular
λύχνος: a portable lamp Ellicott notes this is not the word used for the lamps of the Wise and Foolish Virgins in Matthew 25:1, and “was applied apparently to the cheaper vessels of the poor rather than to those of the wealthy.” He adds the detail that the self-same word had shortly before been applied by Christ to John the Baptist in John 5:35, so “his disciples were in this way to continue the Baptist's work.”
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
τιθέασινtitheasinputG5087
√ τίθημι — to place (in the widest application, literally and figurativelyVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
αὐτὸνautonitG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
ὑπὸhypounderG5259
√ ὑπό — under, iPreposition
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
μόδιονmodiona basketG3426
√ μόδιος — a modius, iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
μόδιος: a modius, a dry measure A grain measure of about a peck, and in a peasant house one of the few pieces of furniture large enough to cover a lamp. Pulpit cites the Speaker's Commentary on the room being described: “the lampstand, with its single light, the flour-bin, and the bed, with a few seats, were all its furniture.” The point is that the only available cover is the very vessel that measures the household's bread.
ἀλλ’all’InsteadG235
√ ἀλλά — properly, other things, iConjunction
ἀλλά: but, on the contrary The strong adversative, marking the reversal.
ἐπὶepi[they set it] onG1909
√ ἐπί — properly, meaning superimposition (of time, place, order, etcPreposition
τὴνtēnG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
λυχνίανlychniana standG3087
√ λυχνία — a lamp-stand (literally or figuratively)NounAccusative Feminine Singular
λυχνία: a lamp-stand The stand adds nothing to the flame; it only raises it. That is the whole logic of the parable: the disciple's work is placement and non-concealment, not intensification.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
λάμπειlampeiit gives lightG2989
√ λάμπω — to beam, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
λάμπω: to beam, to shine A rare verb in the Greek New Testament, in six verses by the Verifier's count, and its company is striking: the face of Christ transfigured (Matthew 17:2), the light in the prison (Acts 12:7), and the God who “shone in our hearts” (2 Corinthians 4:6). The present tense here describes what a lamp on a stand simply does.
πᾶσινpasinto everyoneG3956
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveDative Masculine Plural
πᾶς: all, every Dative of those benefited. Cambridge reads the house as the Jews and contrasts Luke, who has those “which enter in,” that is the Gentiles; that is his inference from Luke's known emphasis, not a claim from this verse.
τοῖςtoisG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Masculine Plural
ἐνeninG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
τῇtētheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Feminine Singular
οἰκίᾳoikiahouseG3614
√ οἰκία — properly, residence (abstractly), but usually (concretely) an abode (literally or figuratively)NounDative Feminine Singular
οἰκία: residence, house The narrowest of the three ranges in this unit: world, neighbourhood, household. Gill reads the single room as a figure of the church, “as on the candlestick in the temple, a type of the church; where Christ has set the light of the Gospel, where it is held forth particularly by the ministers of the word, to illuminate the whole house and family of God.” ⚙ Whether the house is the church or simply a house, the logic of the verse is the same: the lamp is placed where the light reaches everyone under that roof, and the sequence world, city, house forbids the disciple from claiming a universal calling while staying dark at home.
16

In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

houtōs to hymōn phōs lampsatō emprosthen tōn anthrōpōn hopōs idōsin hymōn ta kala erga kai doxasōsin ton hymōn patera ton en tois ouranois

Word by word23 · parsed
οὕτωςhoutōsIn the same wayG3779
√ οὕτω — in this way (referring to what precedes or follows)Adverb
οὕτω: in this way The adverb is the hinge of the unit, gathering salt, city and lamp into one manner of living. Poole: “Our Saviour now plainly tells us what he intended by the comparisons before mentioned.”
τὸto{let}G3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Neuter Singular
ὑμῶνhymōnyourG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 2nd Person Plural
σύ: thou, here genitive plural, “of you” Pulpit counts it: “Your. Three times in this verse. Our Lord lays stress on personal possession of light, personal action, personal relationship and origin.”
φῶςphōslightG5457
√ φῶς — compare G5316 (φαίνω), G5346 (φημί))NounNominative Neuter Singular
λαμψάτωlampsatōshineG2989
√ λάμπω — to beam, iVerbAorist Imperative Active3rd Person Singular
λάμπω: to beam, to shine Aorist imperative, third person, with the light as its subject. Pulpit draws the limit precisely: Christ “has here no thought of effort in shining, such as may improve the brightness of the light given, or of illuminating others, but of not concealing what light the disciples have.” The command is anti-concealment, and it is not in tension with Matthew 6:1 because the two passages differ in aim, not in visibility.
ἔμπροσθενemprosthenbeforeG1715
√ ἔμπροσθεν — in front of (in place (literally or figuratively) or time)Preposition
ἔμπροσθεν: in front of Pulpit notes it is stronger than enōpion, “in presence of,” because the position of the lamp “in front of” people is what is being emphasized.
τῶνtōnG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
ἀνθρώπωνanthrōpōnmenG444
√ ἄνθρωπος — from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι))NounGenitive Masculine Plural
ὅπωςhopōsthatG3704
√ ὅπως — what(-ever) how, iConjunction
ἴδωσινidōsinthey may seeG3708
√ ὁράω — by extension, to attend toVerbAorist Subjunctive Active3rd Person Plural
ὁράω: to see, to attend to Aorist subjunctive. Pulpit observes that this seeing is reported as actually happening in Matthew 9:8 and Matthew 15:31, and that 1 Peter 2:12 is probably a reminiscence of these words.
ὑμῶνhymōnyourG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 2nd Person Plural
τὰtaG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Plural
καλὰkalagoodG2570
√ καλός — X better, fair, good(-ly), honest, meet, well, worthyAdjectiveAccusative Neuter Plural
καλός: fair, good, honest, worthy The aesthetic and public edge of goodness. Henry holds the balance the word requires: “What is between God and our souls, must be kept to ourselves; but that which is of itself open to the sight of men, we must study to make suitable to our profession, and praiseworthy.”
ἔργαergadeedsG2041
√ ἔργον — toil (as an effort or occupation)NounAccusative Neuter Plural
ἔργον: toil, work Not doctrine only. Pulpit takes them as the works “of your lives generally,” following Weiss against Meyer's ministerial restriction; Gill, by contrast, lists them as the labours of Gospel ministers. Both readings are in the record; the noun itself is unrestricted.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
δοξάσωσινdoxasōsinglorifyG1392
√ δοξάζω — to render (or esteem) glorious (in a wide application)VerbAorist Subjunctive Active3rd Person Plural
δοξάζω: to render or esteem glorious Poole insists on the theological care the word needs: “not that we can add any thing to God's essential glory, but we may predicate and manifest his glory.” JFB reads the glorifying as evangelistic, men glorifying the Father “for so redeeming, transforming, and ennobling earth's sinful children, and opening to themselves the way to like redemption.”
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ὑμῶνhymōnyourG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 2nd Person Plural
πατέραpateraFatherG3962
√ πατήρ — a "father" (literally or figuratively, near or more remote)NounAccusative Masculine Singular
πατήρ: father The first occurrence in the Sermon of the full phrase that will dominate this Gospel. Ellicott notes that “the name was in common use among devout Jews, but its first occurrence in our Lord's teaching deserves to be noted.” Pulpit sharpens it: the Fatherhood here is not the general relation of creator to creature but “the relation into which the disciples have entered through the revelation of God in Christ,” answering to the covenant Fatherhood of Deuteronomy 32:6 and Isaiah 63:16.
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἐνeninG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
τοῖςtoisG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Masculine Plural
οὐρανοῖςouranoisheavenG3772
√ οὐρανός — the skyNounDative Masculine Plural
οὐρανός: the sky, heaven Plural, “in the heavens.” Poole guards it against locality: “though his essential presence filleth all places, yet he is pleased there, more than any where, to manifest his glory and majesty.”

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. The emphatic pronoun: from blessed characters to named persons — Matthew 5:13a, 5:14a

Twice the Greek plants a pronoun it did not need. Ὑμεῖς ἐστε already has its person in the verb ending, so the standing Ὑμεῖς is pure weight. JFB reads the effect exactly: Christ, having pronounced certain characters blessed, “from characters He comes to persons possessing them,” and then “startles those humble, unknown men by pronouncing them the exalted benefactors of their whole species.” Gill supplies the scandal in detail, documenting from Jewish sources that “the light of the world” was the standing honorific of celebrated rabbis and of the sanhedrin, and concluding that Christ “no question, had a view to those exalted characters the Jews gave to their celebrated Rabbins.” The titles are lifted off the doctors and set on fishermen. Who exactly is addressed is disputed in the record we hold: Cambridge says “here the disciples and primarily the Apostles are addressed,” Gill and Geneva read it of ministers, while Benson insists it is “Not the apostles, not ministers only; but all who possess and manifest the graces spoken of in the preceding verses.” ⚙ The grammar decides only the emphasis, not the audience; the beatitudes that precede describe no office, which is the strongest argument on Benson's side.

ii. Salt made foolish: a supposed case with a real edge — Matthew 5:13

The hinge verb is μωρανθῇ, aorist subjunctive passive of mōrainō (G3471), a rare word the Verifier finds in only four verses. Benson notes its force: it “is literally, be infatuated, or, grown foolish.” Pulpit presses the same root into an epigram: “Salt without sharpness is like an ἄνθρωπος ἄλογος ; for man is a ζῶον λογικόν .” The conditional particle ἐὰν keeps it hypothetical, and Gill will not let the hypothesis become a doctrine: “this is but a supposition; if the salt, &c. and proves no matter of fact,” and what can be lost is gifts, doctrine or outward conversation, not “the savour of grace, or true grace itself, which cannot be lost, being an incorruptible seed.” JFB refuses the question altogether as beside the point: “The restoration or non-restoration of grace, or true living Christianity, to those who have lost it, has, in our judgment, nothing at all to do here.” Ellicott takes the opposite tack and hears real menace, judging that the words imply “a relative if not an absolute impossibility” and pointing to Hebrews 6:1-6. Cambridge states the alternative starkly: “there is no middle course, either they must be the salt of the earth, be its very life, or fall utterly. If not Peter, then Judas.” On the natural question of whether salt can actually lose savour, the sources split honestly: Ellicott says common salt “will melt if exposed to moisture, but does not lose its saltness,” and calls the question “more curious than important”; Barnes and Pulpit both quote Thomson that impure Palestinian salt “does become insipid and useless”; Benson and Barnes both reproduce Maundrell's report of breaking a piece whose exposed part had, in Benson's wording, “perfectly lost its savour,” while “The innermost part, which had been connected to the rock, retained its savour, as I found by proof.” (Barnes prints the same report with the American spelling “savor,” a reminder that these are two transcriptions of one traveller, not two witnesses.) The verse's verdict is then two rare verbs of violence: βληθὲν (thrown out, once) and καταπατεῖσθαι (trampled, continually). Ellicott records a Talmudic practice, that salt unfit for sacrificial use was strewn on the temple slopes so the priests would not slip.

iii. City, lamp, house: the shrinking circles of what cannot be hidden — Matthew 5:14-15

JFB sets salt and light side by side as two mechanisms: “Salt operates internally, in the mass with which it comes in contact; the sunlight operates externally, irradiating all that it reaches.” Pulpit then notices that the images narrow rather than repeat: “The sun must be seen by all; the city, by the whole neighbourhood; the lamp, by the family.” The Greek supports the reading. The city is κειμένη, a participle of keimai, lying where it has been set, and Poole makes the exact point that the comparison is not to a city but to a city so situated, “all for which our Saviour mentions a city here, is the conspicuity of a city so built.” Then the scale collapses to one room. The articles in τὸν μόδιον and τὴν λυχνίαν are the articles of a known interior: Ellicott, “Each cottage had one such article of furniture”; Cambridge, “the bushel, i. e. the common measure found in every Jewish house.” Benson corrects the English tradition twice over, that lychnos is a lamp and not a candle and that lychnia is a lamp stand, and adds that modios was “as little as our peck.” ⚙ Note what the only available cover is: the grain measure, the vessel by which the household's bread is portioned. The lamp is hidden, if it is hidden, under the instrument of daily provision.

iv. Thus: the command is to stop covering, and the glory goes elsewhere — Matthew 5:16

Everything turns on the first word. οὕτως is “in this way,” pointing back to the lamp on its stand, and Ellicott warns that the English inverts it: “It is not simply, Let your light so shine that men may glorify; but, ‘Thus, like the lamp on its stand, let your light shine.’” Pulpit fixes the limit of the command: Christ has “no thought of effort in shining, such as may improve the brightness of the light given, or of illuminating others, but of not concealing what light the disciples have.” The verb λαμψάτω is a third person imperative whose subject is the light, not the disciple; and it is the same verb Cambridge rightly wants translated identically in v. 15, where the lamp simply shines. The works to be seen are καλὰ, noble and attractive, which Pulpit glosses from Westcott as works that “by their generous and attractive character win the natural admiration of men.” Then the purpose clause turns the whole visibility away from its object: Cambridge, “That is final, not consecutive = ‘in order that.’” Ellicott states the paradox against Matthew 6:1 cleanly: the motive is “the direct opposite of the temper which led the Pharisee to his ostentatious prayers and almsgiving; not ‘to be seen of men,’ and win their praise, but to win men, through our use of the light which we know to be not our own, to glorify the Giver of the light.” Barnes says it in one line, that the motive “should be that our heavenly Father may be glorified.” Poole guards the word glorify itself: “not that we can add any thing to God's essential glory, but we may predicate and manifest his glory.”

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ This is the tool's own fallible reading, offered to be tested by the text. Read the four verses as one argument about covering. The salt is not commanded to be salty and the lamp is not commanded to burn brighter; the only imperative in the whole unit is λαμψάτω, and its subject is the light, not the disciple. What is forbidden is the cover: the measure over the lamp, and by implication the prudence that would keep the city off its hill. Notice then what the two failures in this passage actually are. One is loss of the thing itself (μωρανθῇ, be made foolish), and Gill is right that the text presents it as a supposition and not a report. The other is concealment, and that one is not hypothetical at all: it is the thing being commanded against. ⚙ If that is the shape of the unit, then the sentence “you are the salt of the earth” is not a target to reach but a description to stop obscuring, and the two nouns are borrowed. JFB says the light title belongs to Christ and comes to the disciples only “as they shine with His light upon the world”; Poole says he is “the original Light, the great Light who hath light from and in himself.” ⚙ We would add, tentatively, that the same derivation should be extended to the salt, which the text never traces to a source: whatever it is that preserves, it was put into these people, since a salt that could re-salt itself would make v. 13's unanswerable question answerable. Where this reading could be wrong: it leans hard on the third person imperative, and a reader who takes λαμψάτω as a simple equivalent of “shine, you” will get a more strenuous passage than the one we have described. Test it against the fact that v. 16 ends not with the disciples' reputation but with the Father's glory, which is the one outcome no amount of effort in shining could secure.

Not a verse, a fallible reading: the only command here is to stop covering the light, and even that command is addressed to the light.

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

The salt sayings: the same rare words in three Gospels verbal / quotation: confirmed

Both nouns and verbs of v. 13 are rare in the Greek New Testament, and they cluster. ἅλας (G217) stands in only four verses, and μωραίνω (G3471) in only four, and Luke 14:34 carries both together with the same conditional particle. Mark 9:49 holds the one other occurrence in all of Scripture of ἁλίζω (G233), the future passive of which is our “shall it be salted.” Pulpit weighs the relation of the parallels honestly, judging that “it seems more probable that so natural a figure was used more than once by our Lord,” and Ellicott points to Mark 9:49 as bringing in the sacrificial use of salt.

Mark 9:49 · Mark 9:50 · Luke 14:34

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G217 ἅλας (in 4 vv) and G3471 μωραίνω (in 4 vv) with Luke 14:34 and Mark 9:50; G233 ἁλίζω (in 2 vv) with Mark 9:49. All Greek to Greek, all rare; the link is verbal, though the direction of dependence among the Synoptics is not something the lexeme count can settle.

Made foolish: the verb Paul turns on the world's wisdom verbal / quotation: confirmed

The verb behind “lost its savour” is the verb of folly. μωραίνω (G3471) appears in only four verses of the Greek New Testament, and two of the other three are Paul's: at Romans 1:22 those professing wisdom were made fools, and at 1 Corinthians 1:20 God has made foolish the wisdom of this world. Benson, following Doddridge, already heard the play, that the word alludes “to the common figure, in which sense and spirit are expressed by salt,” and Geneva makes the same pun from the Latin side: “so are fools in the Latin tongue called saltless.” ⚙ The resonance is worth stating carefully. The verb does not make Matthew 5:13 a comment on philosophy; it does mean that the insipid disciple and the self-confident sage are described by Scripture with the same rare passive verb, and in both cases the making-foolish is something done to them.

Romans 1:22 · 1 Corinthians 1:20

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G3471 μωραίνω (in 4 vv) with both Romans 1:22 and 1 Corinthians 1:20; 1 Corinthians 1:20 also shares G2889 κόσμος (in 151 vv, common, and not load-bearing here). A rare shared lexeme, Greek to Greek; no quotation is claimed in either direction.

λάμπω: the six shinings verbal / quotation: confirmed

The verb of vv. 15 and 16, λάμπω (G2989), occurs in six verses. Its company decides its weight: at Matthew 17:2 the face of Christ shone as the sun; at Acts 12:7 a light shone in the prison; at 2 Corinthians 4:6 the God who said light shall shine out of darkness is the one who shone in our hearts. ⚙ Read against these, the imperative of v. 16 is not asking a lamp to manufacture brightness. Cambridge's translation complaint has real force here, since English hides the identity of the verb in v. 15 (“it gives light”) and v. 16 (“shine”).

Matthew 17:2 · 2 Corinthians 4:6 · Acts 12:7

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G2989 λάμπω (in 6 vv) with all three refs, and G5457 φῶς (in 60 vv) additionally with Matthew 17:2 and 2 Corinthians 4:6. Greek to Greek, rare verb. This is lexical kinship, not citation; no passage quotes another.

The lamp and the vessel: a saying preserved four times structural / thematic: confirmed

The lamp-and-cover saying stands also at Mark 4:21, Luke 8:16 and Luke 11:33. Pulpit sets out the textual relations plainly: “All four passages have too much verbal similarity to admit of any of them being absolutely independent. Mark 4:21 has the greatest number of peculiarities,” and of the Lukan pair “Luke 11:33 most resembles Matthew.” He notes as well that Godet and Weiss judge the saying placed here by association of ideas rather than historical recollection, while he himself thinks “the close agreement here with the context seems to point to this being an original position of the utterance.”

Mark 4:21 · Luke 8:16 · Luke 11:33

basis: Verifier bases are common lexemes only: G5087 τίθημι (in 96 vv), G3762 οὐδείς (in 221 vv), G5259 ὑπό (in 200 vv), G5457 φῶς (in 60 vv). Deliberately not tiered verbal: the parallels are close in wording, but no rare shared lexeme was scored, so the recorded evidence supports a shared saying-form rather than a demonstrated verbal link.

Trampled underfoot: the rare verb of contempt verbal / quotation: confirmed

καταπατέω (G2662) is found in five verses. Matthew uses it again at 7:6, of what is holy trampled by swine, and it appears in the sower's seed trodden down at Luke 8:5. Its gravest occurrence is Hebrews 10:29, of the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God. ⚙ Ellicott's Talmudic note gives Matthew 5:13 an edge that this company sharpens: the savourless salt is not simply discarded but strewn where feet go, and the same verb elsewhere names the worst contempt Scripture can describe.

Matthew 7:6 · Hebrews 10:29 · Luke 8:5

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G2662 καταπατέω (in 5 vv) with all three refs; Matthew 7:6 also shares G906 βάλλω (in 107 vv) and G1715 ἔμπροσθεν (in 44 vv). Greek to Greek, rare verb, no quotation claimed. The theological weight we draw from Hebrews 10:29 is our own inference, not part of the lexical basis.

The city on the mountain that the nations see structural / thematic: confirmed

Ellicott proposes that the imagery of the conspicuous city “might, however, come from the prophetic visions of the Zion of the future, idealising the position of the actual Zion,” citing Isaiah 2:2 and Micah 4:1, where the mountain of the house of the LORD is established on the top of the mountains and the nations flow to it. The motif matches the verse closely: a settlement on a height that cannot fail to be seen, and whose visibility is the point. ⚙ We note the caution the commentators themselves raise: Cambridge holds that the image “recalls Judæa rather than Galilee,” and Pulpit judges the hunt for a particular city “vain,” since so many towns in Palestine sat on hills.

Isaiah 2:2 · Micah 4:1

basis: Cross-Testament, so no shared Strong's number is possible: the Greek of Matthew and the Hebrew of Isaiah and Micah belong to different lexicons and the Verifier scores no shared lexeme. The recorded basis is a shared motif (an elevated, visible city drawing the sight of all peoples) named by Ellicott. A verbal tier cannot be scored here and is not claimed.

They that be wise shall shine: the rabbinic claim Christ reassigns structural / thematic: confirmed

Gill documents that Jewish tradition applied light language to Israel and its teachers on the strength of Daniel 12:3, quoting the saying that the light of the fourth day “was done with respect to the Israelites, because they are they , ‘which give light to the world’, as it is written, Daniel 12:3.” Daniel's promise is that the wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars. ⚙ The link is thematic and carried by a witness rather than by the text: what Matthew 5:14 shares with Daniel 12:3 is the image of the righteous as luminaries, and what Gill supplies is the historical fact that Christ's hearers already used that image of their own teachers.

Daniel 12:3

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek to Hebrew), so no shared Strong's evidence exists and no verbal tier is claimed. Basis: a shared motif of the righteous or wise as light-givers, with the intermediate step documented verbatim by Gill from Tzeror Hammor and the Targum on Canticles. The rabbinic sources are Gill's citations, reported here as his, not independently verified.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The Light of the world, and the lamps he kindles ancient/widely-held

The title of v. 14 is Christ's own. Ellicott: “In its highest or truest sense the word belongs to Christ, and to Him only ( John 1:9 ; John 8:12 ).” JFB presses it further, noting that the title is “expressly said to be unsuitable even to the highest of all the prophets ( Joh 1:8 )” and that elsewhere Christians are called not lights but luminaries in the world (Philippians 2:15), while the Baptist is called a lamp (John 5:35). Poole keeps both truths with an image: “though the sun be the light of the world, yet it doth not follow that the moon and the stars also are not so: he is the original Light, the great Light who hath light from and in himself.” Benson says the same, and Geneva compresses it to a clause: “You shine and give light by being made partakers of the true light.” The grammar of v. 15 carries the theology, since καίουσιν assumes someone outside the lamp who kindles it. Ellicott adds that λύχνος is the very word Christ had shortly before used of John the Baptist, so that “his disciples were in this way to continue the Baptist's work.”

John 8:12 · John 1:9 · John 5:35 · Philippians 2:15

Every sacrifice salted: the covenant salt behind the saying novel

Ellicott judges that “the special reference to the sacrificial use of salt in Mark 9:49 ... makes it probable enough that there was some allusion to that thought also here,” and he adds the symbolic act of Elisha at 2 Kings 2:21 alongside Colossians 4:6. Behind both stands the requirement of Leviticus 2:13 that every offering be seasoned with salt, the salt of the covenant of God. ⚙ Our extension: if that background is in view, then the disciples are described with the one substance that qualified an offering for the altar, and their being trampled if savourless is, in Ellicott's own Talmudic note, a fate suffered on the temple steps. Christ, who salts them, is himself named the offering; the Scriptures we hold in this brief do not make that step for us, and we mark it as ours.

Mark 9:49 · Leviticus 2:13 · 2 Kings 2:21 · Colossians 4:6

That the Father may be glorified: where the light finally goes ancient/widely-held

The purpose clause of v. 16 aims past the disciple entirely. JFB reads the glorifying as the world's response to redemption itself, men glorifying the Father “for so redeeming, transforming, and ennobling earth's sinful children, and opening to themselves the way to like redemption and transformation.” Poole points to John 15:8, “Herein is my Father glorified, if ye bear much fruit,” and then to the question that verse raises about the source of the fruit. Pulpit observes that this seeing and glorifying is recorded as actually occurring in Matthew 9:8 and Matthew 15:31, and that Peter's charge to keep conduct honourable among the Gentiles so that they may glorify God is “probably due to a reminiscence of our Lord's words.” Pulpit also fixes the sense of “your Father” here as the covenant relation “into which the disciples have entered through the revelation of God in Christ,” not the general relation of maker to creature. ⚙ The unit therefore ends where it could not have begun: the visible life of the disciple is the occasion, and the Father's glory through the Son is the end.

John 15:8 · Matthew 9:8 · Matthew 15:31 · 1 Peter 2:12

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

  • Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
  • Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
  • Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
  • Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
  • John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
  • Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
  • Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
  • Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
  • The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

Text: BSB (CC0) with the Berean interlinear and Strong's numbering; the parse labels quoted in the notes are that interlinear's. Two places where the English of the base translation is doing interpretive work should be held in view: BSB leaves κειμένη in v. 14 untranslated, and it renders the single verb λάμπω two different ways in vv. 15 and 16, a choice Cambridge explicitly objects to.

Disputed matters left open rather than settled. (1) Whether salt can in fact lose its savour: Ellicott says common salt does not, and calls the question “more curious than important”; Barnes, Pulpit and Cambridge quote Thomson's contrary report about impure Palestinian salt; Benson and Barnes both reproduce Maundrell's account from around 1690, and Ellicott notes he is “not aware that this has been confirmed by recent travellers.” These are seventeenth to nineteenth century travel observations, not modern analyses, and we report them as such. (2) Whether the loss in v. 13 can befall true grace: Gill says no and restricts it to gifts and outward conversation; Ellicott points to Hebrews 6:1-6 and hears a real impossibility of restoration; JFB rules the whole question out of place here. We have not adjudicated. (3) Which city, if any, was in sight: Ellicott and Barnes favour Safed, Cambridge doubts a Galilean setting for the image, Gill suggests Nazareth, Capernaum or Jerusalem, and Pulpit notes evidence is lacking that Safed was a city at the time. The text names none. (4) The original setting of the lamp saying: Pulpit reports Godet and Weiss against himself.

Sources and their limits. Gill's rabbinic citations (Tzeror Hammor, the Targum on Canticles, Juchasin, Abot R. Nathan, the Talmudic tractates) are reproduced as his; we have not verified them independently, and any weight they carry in the Daniel 12:3 thread is the weight of his testimony. The Talmudic practice of strewing unfit salt on the temple steps comes to us through Ellicott citing Schottgen, at two removes. Ellicott's carpenter's shop at Nazareth is his devotional inference, not a datum. The entries for Barnes, JFB and Pulpit at some verses were capped in our brief; the excerpts selected here fall inside the portions supplied, and no capped material has been guessed at.

Thread tiers. Five links in this unit are Greek to Greek and rest on rare shared lexemes counted by the Verifier, so they carry a verbal tier while claiming no quotation in either direction. The lamp-and-vessel parallels are close in wording but scored only on common lexemes, so they are tiered structural rather than verbal, deliberately under-claiming. The two cross-Testament threads (Isaiah 2:2 with Micah 4:1, and Daniel 12:3) cannot be scored verbal at all: the Greek and Hebrew lexicons share no Strong's numbers, so the recorded basis is motif, named by the commentator who proposed it. The ⚙ inferences in the christ section are marked where they exceed what the named sources say; the Leviticus 2:13 reading in particular is labelled novel because Ellicott offers only the allusion, not the christological conclusion we draw from it.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)