Bible Strands
Mark 9:43
If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two hands and go into hell, into the unquenchable fire.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jesus addresses His followers immediately after warning against causing believers to stumble, using physical hyperbole to stress spiritual urgency.
The words — σκανδαλίζῃ (skandalizē) means "cause to stumble," and ἀπόκοψον (apokopson) commands "do cut off," framing the removal of sin as a decisive, irreversible action.
The thread — This warning parallels Matthew 5:29 and Matthew 18:8, which repeat the hand/eye/foot cutting motif, while Matthew 25:41 identifies the resulting destination as eternal fire.
Why it lands — The text demands immediate and radical separation from anything that leads to sin, prioritizing eternal life over temporary physical wholeness.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:
Cross-references
- Matthew 5:29 If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
- Matthew 18:8 If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than to have two hands and two feet and be thrown into the eternal fire.
- Matthew 25:41 Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
- Matthew 5:22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ will be subject to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be subject to the fire of hell.
- Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with endurance the race set out for us.
- Matthew 3:12 His winnowing fork is in His hand to clear His threshing floor and to gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
- Romans 8:13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
- Galatians 5:24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
- Colossians 3:5 Put to death, therefore, the components of your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry.
- Titus 2:12 It instructs us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live sensible, upright, and godly lives in the present age,