Markus 9:38-48

On Jesus’ Side

9:38 John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he was not following us.” 9:39 But Jesus said, “Do not stop him, because no one who does a miracle in my name will be able soon afterward to say anything bad about me. 9:40 For whoever is not against us is for us. 9:41 For I tell you the truth, ¹  whoever gives you a cup of water because ²  you bear Christ’s ³  name will never lose his reward.

9:42 “If anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a huge millstone ⁴  tied around his neck and to be thrown into the sea. 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 ⁵  two hands and go into hell, ⁶  to the unquenchable fire. 9:44 [[EMPTY]] ⁷  9:45 If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off! It is better to enter life lame than to have ⁸  two feet and be thrown into hell. 9:46 [[EMPTY]] ⁹  9:47 If your eye causes you to sin, tear it out! ¹⁰  It is better to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye than to have ¹¹  two eyes and be thrown into hell, 9:48 where their worm never dies and the fire is never quenched.

[9:41]  ¹ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[9:41]  ² tn Grk “in [the] name that of Christ you are.”

[9:41]  ³ tn Or “bear the Messiah’s”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[9:41]  sn See the note on Christ in 8:29.

[9:42]  ⁴ tn Grk “the millstone of a donkey.” This refers to a large flat stone turned by a donkey in the process of grinding grain (BDAG 661 s.v. μύλος 2; L&N 7.68-69). The same term is used in the parallel account in Matt 18:6.

[9:42]  sn The punishment of drowning with a heavy weight attached is extremely gruesome and reflects Jesus’ views concerning those who cause others who believe in him to sin.

[9:43]  ⁵ tn Grk “than having.”

[9:43]  ⁶ 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.

[9:44]  ⁷ tc Most later mss have 9:44 here and 9:46 after v. 45: “where their worm never dies and the fire is never quenched” (identical with v. 48). Verses 44 and 46 are present in A D Θ Ë¹³ Ï lat sy^p,h, but lacking in important Alexandrian mss and several others (א B C L W Δ Ψ 0274 ˹ 28 565 892 2427 pc co). This appears to be a scribal addition from v. 48 and is almost certainly not an original part of the Greek text of Mark. The present translation follows NA²⁷ in omitting the verse number, a procedure also followed by a number of other modern translations.

[9:45]  ⁸ tn Grk “than having.”

[9:46]  ⁹ tc See tc note at the end of v. 43.

[9:47]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “throw it out.”

[9:47]  ¹¹ tn Grk “than having.”