and a fruitful land into a barren place, ¹  because of the sin of its inhabitants.

Salt ¹  is good, but if it loses its saltiness, ²  how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other.”

“Salt ¹  is good, but if salt loses its flavor, ²  how can its flavor be restored?

“You are the salt ¹  of the earth. But if salt loses its flavor, ²  how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled on by people.

But its swamps and its marshes will not become fresh; they will remain salty.

You have given them tears as food; ¹  you have made them drink tears by the measure. ² 

They will be like a shrub ¹  in the desert. They will not experience good things even when they happen. It will be as though they were growing in the desert, in a salt land where no one can live.

Can a fig tree produce olives, my brothers and sisters, ¹  or a vine produce figs? Neither can a salt water spring produce fresh water.

He said to me, “These waters go out toward the eastern region and flow down into the Arabah; when they enter the Dead Sea, ¹  where the sea is stagnant, ²  the waters become fresh. ³ 

For the music director; according to the shushan-eduth style; ²  a prayer ³  of David written to instruct others. ⁴  It was written when he fought against Aram Naharaim and Aram-Zobah. That was when Joab turned back and struck down ⁵  12,000 Edomites ⁶  in the Valley of Salt. ⁷  O God, you have rejected us. ⁸  You suddenly turned on us in your anger. ⁹  Please restore us!