How many times is salt mentioned in the Bible?
The word salt appears 40 times in the King James Version, in 34 verses. It is found in 19 of the 66 books. The World English Bible uses salt 46 times.
Salt in the King James Version and the World English Bible
Each form of salt counted in each translation.
| Form | KJV | WEB |
|---|---|---|
| salt | 40 | 46 |
| Total | 40 | 46 |
Which books mention salt most
Salt appears in 19 books of the 66 in the King James Version. Joshua has the most (6), then Mark (4) and Leviticus (3).
Also in: Job (1), Jeremiah (1), Colossians (1), James (1).
First and last mention of salt
All these were joined together in the vale of Siddim, which is the salt sea.
Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.
The verse that uses it most is Leviticus 2:13, 3 times (tied with Mark 9:50):
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 thine offerings thou shalt offer salt.
Where the two translations differ
0 verses match in the KJV but not in the World English Bible, and 6 verses match only in the World English Bible, usually because the other translation chose a different word there.
Exodus 30:35: counted in the World English Bible only
And thou shalt make it a perfume, a confection after the art of the apothecary, tempered together, pure and holy:
and you shall make incense of it, a perfume after the art of the perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy:
Ezra 4:14: counted in the World English Bible only
Now because we have maintenance from the king’s palace, and it was not meet for us to see the king’s dishonour, therefore have we sent and certified the king;
Now because we eat the salt of the palace, and it is not appropriate for us to see the king’s dishonor, therefore we have sent and informed the king,
Verses with salt on our topic pages
1 verse that uses salt in the World English Bible is in our topic collections.
Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.
On: Evangelism, What Does the Bible Say About Cussing and Swearing? 26 Verses
Common questions
How many times is salt in the Old Testament and the New Testament?
In the King James Version, counting every form, 30 of the 40 uses are in the Old Testament and 10 in the New Testament. Salt appears in 19 books of the 66 in the King James Version. Joshua has the most (6), then Mark (4) and Leviticus (3).
Where is salt first mentioned in the Bible?
The first use in the King James Version is Genesis 14:3: "All these were joined together in the vale of Siddim, which is the salt sea." The last is James 3:12.
More word counts: fire, sword, king, priest, wife, wicked, mountain, tree, or all 253 words.
Counted by Bible Says About from the full public-domain text of the King James Version (1769 edition) and the World English Bible. Verse text only: headings and psalm titles are left out. A word is a run of letters: a hyphenated name like Beer-sheba counts as two, and an apostrophe stays inside its word (LORD'S is one). Matching ignores capital letters. Data compiled 2026-10-05.