The Confusing Sayings: Mark 9:48

Where their worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched.

This article is part of a series explaining Jesus’s Confusing Sayings.

If any of Jesus’s verse’s are confusing for you, let me know in a comment and I may analyze its Greek in a future article.

Why is it that Jesus’s more interesting—and, therefore, confusing—statements are never explained in sermons? Perhaps some of you have more adventurous pastors than I have had, but I have never heard verses like the one discussed here today even mentioned. Perhaps some would find Christianity more interesting and less predictable if they were.

Mark 9:48 follows the verse about cutting off your hand (Mark 9:43), the similar one about cutting off a foot (Mark 9:45), and the one about plucking out an eye (Mark 9:47). That last verse ends with a reference to the trash dump, Gehenna, outside of Jerusalem, where waste was burned. This “Gehenna” is often translated as “hell” in the Bible and appears to be the connection to “fire” in Mark 9:48:

NIV: where  ‘the worms that eat them do not die, and the fire is not quenched.

Appearances, however, are deceiving. This verse is filled with uncommon words for Jesus, and every word deserves some discussion. The only explanation of this verse in Christian teaching seems to be that it is a description of the horrors of hell. To see if this explanation holds up, let us go to the source.

Isaiah

The Greek words are uncommon because Jesus is quoting part of Isaiah 66:24. This chapter of Isaiah describes a vision written from the point of view of the Divine. It begins echoing another saying of Jesus, about the heaven being the Divine’s throne and the earth his footstool. It then goes into many topics, all of which seem prophetic. The vision finishes by saying that God’s name will go out to all nations, and all flesh will be converted to his worship. This vision ends with Isaiah 66:24:

“And they will go out and look on the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; the worms that eat them will not die, the fire that burns them will not be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.”

Is Isaiah describing the “hell” of Christianity in this verse? If so, he is doing it in a most complicated and unfamiliar way. The bodies are dead. The worm is alive. Does the fire burn the bodies or does it burn the worm? This verse is full of surprises that have nothing to do with punishment but have a lot to do with purification.

Worm of Fire

First, we should point out that the word, “worms,” in the verse is singular, “worm.” It describes the type of “worm” not the actual “worms.” The words “that eat them” do not appear in the Greek or Hebrew text. They were added to make it clear that this worm eats flesh. It is a maggot. It is a specific type of maggot that feeds on the dead, the coccus ilicis. This, however, is a special maggot. When the female dies, she attaches herself to a tree (see picture above), protecting the eggs beneath her. As she dies, she releases a red fluid that stains her body and the wood. We should also point out that the words in the Isaiah quote “that burns them” doesn’t exist in the Hebrew.

Does the section referring to “fire” actually refer to a burning fire? The nature of this maggot gives it another connection to the Greek word for “fire.” The Greek verb that means “to make red” literally means “to make fiery.” Its root is the Greek word meaning “fire.” Does the “fire” in Isaiah have a double meaning, also referring to the dye creating the red color?

The Greek describing the worm uses the verb translated as “do/will not die,” is not any of the common words referring to physical death. It is a verb that primarily means "to bring to pass", "to accomplish" and "to finish." It means “to die” in the sense of “being finished.” This is the verb form of the noun that means "completion" and "accomplishment." It is related to the verb Jesus uses on the cross to say, “it is finished.”

With its death, this maggot isn’t finished. Its fluid was the basis for scarlet dye during this time. The Greek word for the color scarlet is kokkinos, a Greek variation on the worm’s scientific Latin name, which refers to the kernel shape of the dead maggot.

This maggot’s red color had important religious implications for the Judeans of Jesus’s era. Scarlet was the color worn by priests in Jerusalem’s temple, the color used in ritual purification, and the color of the tabernacle of Moses. Those of Jesus’s time understood these connections to the dye. Early Christians saw this maggot’s stain as a symbol of Jesus’s blood staining the wood of his cross. Remember, the red of fire was a positive thing for Judeans. God led them through the desert as a pillar of fire. Fire was used in offering sacrifices to God. There was no concept of a fiery hell.

Baptism

What was the Greek word for “dye” in Jesus’s era? It is a noun based on the Greek verb translated as “baptize” that means “to dunk” or “to dip” (see this article). In English, we associate being dunked only with being washed, but, in Greek, when we are dunked in baptism, we are also, in a sense, being dyed. The idea of being baptized in Jesus’s blood completes the image of being dyed red, but as it says in, 1 John 1:7, this blood cleanses us.

Being dipped in water is also how fire is quenched. In the case of dying something red, it also is how fire is made because to make something red means to make it fiery. Early Christian didn’t connect fire to hell, but what did they connect it to?” The fire of the Holy Spirit. It was John the Baptist who said in Matthew 3:11:

I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that comes after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and fire:

In Mark 9:48, the Greek word translated as "quenched" is another uncommon word for Jesus that brings together other interesting but opposing ideas. It means "quench", in the sense of "put out" a fire or a light, but it also means to "dry up." The “fire” made by dyeing must dry out, but it doesn’t put out its fire. So, even as it is “quenched” by drying out, its fire is not quenched by going out. In some contexts, this verb also means “to die” as in a fire dying out.

How did Jesus’s listeners hear this verse?

Listeners Heard: Somewhere that maggot of theirs doesn't finish and the fire doesn't die out.

Of course, all these connections could all be mere coincidence, like the connection between the word “to die” and “to dye” in English.