Leviticus 2:13
Whatsoever sacrifice thou offerest, thou shalt season it with salt, neither shalt thou take away the salt of the covenant of thy God from thy sacrifice. In all thy oblations thou shalt offer salt.
The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Quidquid obtuleris sacrificii, sale condies, nec auferes sal fœderis Dei tui de sacrificio tuo : in omni oblatione tua offeres sal.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ πᾶν δῶρον θυσίας ὑμῶν ἁλὶ ἁλισθήσεται· οὐ διαπαύσετε ἅλα διαθήκης Κυρίου ἀπὸ θυσιασμάτων ὑμῶν· ἐπὶ παντὸς δώρου ὑμῶν προσοίσετε Κυρίῳ τῷ θεῷ ὑμῶν ἅλας.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וְכָל קָרְבַּ֣ן מִנְחָתְךָ֮ בַּמֶּ֣לַח תִּמְלָח֒ וְלֹ֣א תַשְׁבִּ֗ית מֶ֚לַח בְּרִ֣ית אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ מֵעַ֖ל מִנְחָתֶ֑ךָ עַ֥ל כָּל קָרְבָּנְךָ֖ תַּקְרִ֥יב מֶֽלַח
Haydock's commentary
Salt. In every sacrifice salt was to be used, which is an emblem of wisdom and discretion, without which none of our performances are agreeable to God. (Challoner)
Salt is not prescribed in the sacrifices of animals. But it was to be used in them, as we learn from the Jews, and from St. Mark ix. 48, Every victim shall be salted. The ancient poets never specify salt in their descriptions of sacrifices. But Pliny assures us, that in his time it was of the greatest authority, and always used in sacrifices, with cakes. Maxime in sacris intelligebatur salis auctoritas, quando nulla conficiuntur sine molâ salsâ. (B. xxxi. 7.)
Covenant. It is so called, because it was a symbol of the durable condition of the alliance with God, which was renewed in every sacrifice; (Calmet) or it may signify "the salt prescribed" by God: for the law and covenant are often used synonymously. (Menochius)
Let your speech be always in grace, seasoned with salt, Colossians iv. 6. See Numbers xviii. 19.
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Methodius The Banquet of the Ten Virgins; or Concerning Chastity, Chapter I
For as the putrid humours and matter of flesh, and all those things which corrupt it, are driven out by salt, in the same manner all the irrational appetites of a virgin are banished from the body by divine teaching. For it must needs be that the soul which is not sprinkled with the words of Christ, as with salt, should stink and breed worms, as King David, openly confessing with tears in the mountains, cried out, “My wounds stink and are corrupt,” because he had not salted himself with the exercises of self-control, and so subdued his carnal appetites, but self-indulgently had yielded to them, and became corrupted in adultery. And hence, in Leviticus, every gift, unless it be seasoned with salt, is forbidden to be offered as an oblation to the Lord God. …
St Jerome The Letters of St. Jerome, To Rusticus
1. No man is happier than the Christian, for to him is promised the kingdom of heaven. No man struggles harder than he, for he goes daily in danger of his life. No man is stronger, for he overcomes the Devil. No man is weaker, for he is overcome by the flesh. Both pairs of statements can be proved by many examples. For instance, the robber believes upon the cross and immediately hears the assuring words: “verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise:” while Judas falls from the pinnacle of the apostolate into the abyss of perdition. Neither the close intercourse of the banquet nor the dipping of the sop nor the Lord’s gracious kiss can save him from betraying as man Him whom he had known as the Son of God. …