Yesaya 66:24

66:24 “They will go out and observe the corpses of those who rebelled against me, for the maggots that eat them will not die, ¹  and the fire that consumes them will not die out. ²  All people will find the sight abhorrent.” ³ 

Matius 3:12

3:12 His winnowing fork ⁴  is in his hand, and he will clean out his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the storehouse, ⁵  but the chaff he will burn up with inextinguishable fire.” ⁶ 

Matius 5:22

5:22 But I say to you that anyone who is angry with a brother ⁷  will be subjected to judgment. And whoever insults ⁸  a brother will be brought before ⁹  the council, ¹⁰  and whoever says ‘Fool’ ¹¹  will be sent ¹²  to fiery hell. ¹³ 

Markus 9:43

9:43 If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off! It is better for you to enter into life crippled than to have ¹⁴  two hands and go into hell, ¹⁵  to the unquenchable fire.

Markus 9:48

9:48 where their worm never dies and the fire is never quenched.

Lukas 3:17

3:17 His winnowing fork ¹⁶  is in his hand to clean out his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his storehouse, ¹⁷  but the chaff he will burn up with inextinguishable fire.” ¹⁸ 

Yudas 1:7

1:7 So also ¹⁹  Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns, ²⁰  since they indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire ²¹  in a way similar to ²²  these angels, ²³  are now displayed as an example by suffering the punishment of eternal fire.

¹ tn Heb “for their worm will not die.”

² tn Heb “and their fire will not be extinguished.”

³ tn Heb “and they will be an abhorrence to all flesh.”

sn This verse depicts a huge mass burial site where the seemingly endless pile of maggot-infested corpses are being burned.

⁴ sn A winnowing fork was a pitchfork-like tool used to toss threshed grain in the air so that the wind blew away the chaff, leaving the grain to fall to the ground. The note of purging is highlighted by the use of imagery involving sifting though threshed grain for the useful kernels.

⁵ tn Or “granary,” “barn” (referring to a building used to store a farm’s produce rather than a building to house livestock).

⁶ sn The image of fire that cannot be extinguished is from the OT: Job 20:26; Isa 34:8-10; 66:24.

⁷ tc The majority of mss read the word εἰκῇ (eikh, “without cause”) here after “brother.” This insertion has support from א² D L W Θ 0233 Ë^1,13 33 Ï it sy co Ir^lat Or^mss Cyp Cyr. Thus the Western, Caesarean, and Byzantine texttypes all include the word, while the best Alexandrian and some other witnesses (Ì⁶⁴ א* B 1424^mg pc aur vg Or Hier^mss) lack it. The ms evidence favors its exclusion, though there is a remote possibility that εἰκῇ could have been accidentally omitted from these witnesses by way of homoioarcton (the next word, ἔνοχος [enocos, “guilty”], begins with the same letter). An intentional change would likely arise from the desire to qualify “angry,” especially in light of the absolute tone of Jesus’ words. While “without cause” makes good practical sense in this context, and must surely be a true interpretation of Jesus’ meaning (cf. Mark 3:5), it does not commend itself as original.

⁸ tn Grk “whoever says to his brother ‘Raca,’” an Aramaic word of contempt or abuse meaning “fool” or “empty head.”

⁹ tn Grk “subjected,” “guilty,” “liable.”

¹⁰ tn Grk “the Sanhedrin.”

¹¹ tn The meaning of the term μωρός (mwros) is somewhat disputed. Most take it to mean, following the Syriac versions, “you fool,” although some have argued that it represents a transliteration into Greek of the Hebrew term מוֹרֵה (moreh) “rebel” (Deut 21:18, 20; cf. BDAG 663 s.v. μωρός c).

¹² tn Grk “subjected,” “guilty,” “liable.”

¹³ tn Grk “the Gehenna of fire.”

sn The word translated hell is “Gehenna” (γέεννα, geenna), a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew words ge hinnom (“Valley of Hinnom”). This was the valley along the south side of Jerusalem. In OT times it was used for human sacrifices to the pagan god Molech (cf. Jer 7:31; 19:5-6; 32:35), and it came to be used as a place where human excrement and rubbish were disposed of and burned. In the intertestamental period, it came to be used symbolically as the place of divine punishment (cf. 1 En. 27:2, 90:26; 4 Ezra 7:36).

¹⁴ tn Grk “than having.”

¹⁵ sn The word translated hell is “Gehenna” (γέεννα, geenna), a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew words ge hinnom (“Valley of Hinnom”). This was the valley along the south side of Jerusalem. In OT times it was used for human sacrifices to the pagan god Molech (cf. Jer 7:31; 19:5-6; 32:35), and it came to be used as a place where human excrement and rubbish were disposed of and burned. In the intertestamental period, it came to be used symbolically as the place of divine punishment (cf. 1 En. 27:2, 90:26; 4 Ezra 7:36). This Greek term also occurs in vv. 45, 47.

¹⁶ sn A winnowing fork is a pitchfork-like tool used to toss threshed grain in the air so that the wind blows away the chaff, leaving the grain to fall to the ground. The note of purging is highlighted by the use of imagery involving sifting though threshed grain for the useful kernels.

¹⁷ tn Or “granary,” “barn” (referring to a building used to store a farm’s produce rather than a building for housing livestock).

¹⁸ sn The image of fire that cannot be extinguished is from the OT: Job 20:26; Isa 34:8-10; 66:24.

¹⁹ tn Grk “as.”

²⁰ tn Grk “the towns [or cities] surrounding them.”

²¹ tn Grk “strange flesh.” This phrase has been variously interpreted. It could refer to flesh of another species (such as angels lusting after human flesh). This would aptly describe the sin of the angels, but not easily explain the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah. It could refer to the homosexual practices of the Sodomites, but a difficulty arises from the use of ἕτερος ({etero"; “strange,” “other”). When this is to be distinguished from ἄλλος (allos, “another”) it suggests “another of a different kind.” If so, would that properly describe homosexual behavior? In response, the language could easily be compact: “pursued flesh other than what was normally pursued.” However, would this find an analogy in the lust of angels (such would imply that angels normally had sexual relations of some sort, but cf. Matt 22:30)? Another alternative is that the focus of the parallel is on the activity of the surrounding cities and the activity of the angels. This is especially plausible since the participles ἐκπορνεύσασαι (ekporneusasai, “having indulged in sexual immorality”) and ἀπελθοῦσαι (apelqousai, “having pursued”) have concord with “cities” (πόλεις, poleis), a feminine plural noun, rather than with Sodom and Gomorrah (both masculine nouns). If so, then their sin would not necessarily have to be homosexuality. However, most likely the feminine participles are used because of constructio ad sensum (construction according to sense). That is, since both Sodom and Gomorrah are cities, the feminine is used to imply that all the cities are involved. The connection with angels thus seems to be somewhat loose: Both angels and Sodom and Gomorrah indulged in heinous sexual immorality. Thus, whether the false teachers indulge in homosexual activity is not the point; mere sexual immorality is enough to condemn them.

²² tn Or “in the same way as.”

²³ tn “Angels” is not in the Greek text; but the masculine demonstrative pronoun most likely refers back to the angels of v. 6.