Leviticus 2:13

Translations

King James Version (KJV)

And every oblation of your meat offering shall you season with salt; neither shall you suffer the salt of the covenant of your God to be lacking from your meat offering: with all your offerings you shall offer salt.

American King James Version (AKJV)

American Standard Version (ASV)

And every oblation of thy meal-offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meal-offering: with all thine oblations thou shalt offer salt.

Basic English Translation (BBE)

And every meal offering is to be salted with salt; your meal offering is not to be without the salt of the agreement of your God: with all your offerings give salt.

Webster's Revision

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 thy offerings thou shalt offer salt.

World English Bible

Every offering of your meal offering you shall season with salt; neither shall you allow the salt of the covenant of your God to be lacking from your meal offering. With all your offerings you shall offer salt.

English Revised Version (ERV)

And every oblation of thy meal offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meal offering: with all thine oblations thou shalt offer salt.

Definitions for Leviticus 2:13

Meat - Food.

Clarke's Leviticus 2:13 Bible Commentary

With all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt - Salt was the opposite to leaven, for it preserved from putrefaction and corruption, and signified the purity and persevering fidelity that were necessary in the worship of God. Every thing was seasoned with it, to signify the purity and perfection that should be extended through every part of the Divine service, and through the hearts and lives of God's worshippers. It was called the salt of the covenant of God, because as salt is incorruptible, so was the covenant made with Abram, Isaac, Jacob, and the patriarchs, relative to the redemption of the world by the incarnation and death of Jesus Christ. Among the heathens salt was a common ingredient in all their sacrificial offerings; and as it was considered essential to the comfort and preservation of life, and an emblem of the most perfect corporeal and mental endowments, so it was supposed to be one of the most acceptable presents they could make unto their gods, from whose sacrifices it was never absent. That inimitable and invaluable writer, Pliny, has left a long chapter on this subject, the seventh of the thirty-first book of his Natural History, a few extracts from which will not displease the intelligent reader.

Ergo, hercule, vita humanior sine Sale nequit degere: adeoque necessarium elementum est, ut transierit intellectus ad voluptates animi quoque. Nam ita Sales appellantur omnisque vitae lepos et summa hilaritas, laborumque requies non alio magis vocabulo constat. Honoribus etiam militiaeque inter ponitur, Salariis inde dictis - Maxime tamen in sacris intelligitur auctoritas, quando nulla conficiuntur sine mola salsa.

"So essentially necessary is salt that without it human life cannot be preserved: and even the pleasures and endowments of the mind are expressed by it; the delights of life, repose, and the highest mental serenity, are expressed by no other term than sales among the Latins. It has also been applied to designate the honorable rewards given to soldiers, which are called salarii or salaries. But its importance may be farther understood by its use in sacred things, as no sacrifice was offered to the gods without the salt cake."

So Virgil, Eclog. viii., ver. 82: Sparge molam.

"Crumble the sacred mole of salt and corn."

And again, Aeneid., lib. iv., ver. 517: -

Ipsa mola, manibitsque piis, altaria juxta.

"Now with the sacred cake, and lifted hands,

All bent on death, before her altar stands."

Pitt.

In like manner Homer: -

Πασσε δ' ἁλος θειοιο, κρατευταων επαειπας.

Iliad, lib. ix., ver. 214.

"And taking sacred salt from the hearth side,

continued...

Barnes's Leviticus 2:13 Bible Commentary

With all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt - Not only every מנחה mı̂nchāh, but every animal offering was to be accompanied by salt. It was the one symbol which was never absent from the altar of burnt-offering, showing the imperishablness of the love of Yahweh for His people. In its unalterable nature, it is the contrary of leaven (yeast). The Arabs are said to retain in common use the expression, "a covenant of salt;" and the respect they pay to bread and salt in their rites of hospitality is well known.

Wesley's Leviticus 2:13 Bible Commentary

2:13 Salt — To signify that incorruption of mind, and sincerity of grace, which in scripture is signified by salt, Mark 9:49; Colossians 4:6, and which is necessary in all them that would offer an acceptable offering to God. Or in testimony of that communion which they had with God in these exercises of worship; salt being the great symbol of friendship in all nations is called, either, 1. because it represented the perpetuity of God's covenant with them, which is designed by salt, Numbers 18:19; 2 Chronicles 13:5. Or, 2. because it was so particularly required as a condition of their covenant with God; this being made absolutely necessary in all their offerings; and as the neglect of sacrifices was a breach of covenant on their part, so also was the neglect of salt in their sacrifices.

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