Mark 9:45

45 And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off! It is better [for] you to enter into life lame than, having two feet, to be thrown into hell!

Mark 9:45 Meaning and Commentary

Mark 9:45

And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off
Such who are that to men, as the foot is to the body, the support of them through whom they have their maintenance and subsistence; and yet these, if they are a means of causing them to stumble and tail, or of leading out of the ways of Christ, and off from him, their company is to be shunned and abstained from;

it is better for thee to enter halt into life.
The Vulgate Latin version reads, "eternal life", which is undoubtedly intended by "life"; and so reads the Cambridge copy of Beza's; and the meaning is, that it is better to go alone without such company into heaven,

than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never
shall be quenched; (See Gill on Mark 9:44).

Mark 9:45 In-Context

43 And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off! It is better [for] you to enter into life crippled than, having two hands, to go into hell--into the unquenchable fire!
45 And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off! It is better [for] you to enter into life lame than, having two feet, to be thrown into hell!
47 And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out! It is better [for] you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye than, having two eyes, to be thrown into hell,

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Most later Greek manuscripts add v. 46 after v. 45, "where their worm does not die and the fire is not extinguished" (identical to v. 48)
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.