Read & explore together
Salt That Loses Its Taste
Jesus uses a short illustration about salt to make listeners think carefully. Salt is called good, yet Jesus warns that salt which becomes flat and tasteless is no longer useful for its purpose.
Understanding the passage
Understanding the passage
In these two verses, Jesus speaks in picture language rather than reporting a separate event. He describes what happens when salt loses its taste, then ends with a call to listen closely and understand what he is saying.
Luke 14:34–35Main takeaway
Jesus’ illustration warns that something meant to be useful can become unfit, so his hearers should listen carefully to his words.
Explore the teaching
Open a card to explore the full explanation and its Bible references.
01Salt is described as goodJesus begins simply: “Salt is good”. The illustration starts with something valuable and useful.
Explanation
Jesus begins simply: “Salt is good”. The illustration starts with something valuable and useful. That matters because the warning is not against salt existing, but against salt no longer being what it should be. The point begins with goodness before moving to loss and failure.
02Salt can become flat and tastelessJesus then asks, “if the salt becomes flat and tasteless, with what do you season it?” His question expects no easy solution.
Explanation
Jesus then asks, “if the salt becomes flat and tasteless, with what do you season it?” His question expects no easy solution. If salt has lost the very quality that makes it salt, it cannot do the job it was meant to do. The image highlights lost usefulness.
03Useless salt is thrown outJesus says tasteless salt is “fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile”. These examples show complete lack of usefulness in his illustration.
Explanation
Jesus says tasteless salt is “fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile”. These examples show complete lack of usefulness in his illustration. Because it is unfit even there, “it is thrown out”. The picture is blunt and memorable, stressing that failed salt has no proper function left.
04Jesus calls for careful hearingThe saying ends, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Jesus does not explain the illustration here.
Explanation
The saying ends, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Jesus does not explain the illustration here. Instead, he urges people to listen properly. This closing line tells readers not to brush past the image, but to pay attention and consider its warning seriously.
Questions to explore
Pause, look back at the verses and talk together.
01What two qualities of salt does Jesus mention, and why do they matter in the illustration?
Notice that Jesus first says salt is good, then speaks about it becoming flat and tasteless, which creates the problem in the picture.
02What does Jesus say happens to salt that no longer does what salt should do?
Look at the strong wording about being unfit for both the soil and the manure pile, and then see the final result.
03Why does Jesus finish by saying, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear”?
This ending shows that the illustration is meant to be thought about carefully, not just heard quickly and forgotten.
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
Luke 14:34–35
34“Salt is good, but if the salt becomes flat and tasteless, with what do you season it?
35It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile. It is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”