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Mark 9:42-44
New Catholic Bible
Mark 9:42-44
New Catholic Bible
42 Woe to the World because of Scandals.[a]“If anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.
43 “If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off.[b] It is preferable for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and go into the unquenchable fire of Gehenna [ 44 where the devouring worm never dies and the fire is never quenched][c]
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Mark 9:42 See note on Mt 18:5-11.
- Mark 9:43 Cut it off: Jesus is here using hyperbole, a figure of speech that exaggerates to make a point. He means that sometimes sin can be overcome only by taking drastic action. Gehenna: the name, from the Hebrew Ge Hinnon, of a small valley southwest of Jerusalem; it was a popular image for hell because of the refuse that was continually burned there.
- Mark 9:44 These verses are omitted in the best manuscripts; they are repetitions of v. 48 (see Isa 66:24).