The Worm Doesn't Die. It Dyes. Fire Part 2
In this article, we take an deep dive into Mark 9:48 and Mark 9:49. These verses appear in Mark’s shorter version of the Sermon on the Mount.
KJV: Where their worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched.
KJV: For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.
Is Jesus describing the “hell” of modern Christianity in these verses? No. These verses are full of wonderful surprises that have nothing to do with punishment but quite the opposite.
This verse follows a typical “toss into the fire verse,” Mark 9:47.
KJV: And if that eye of yours trips up you , toss out it : Good it is one-eyed to enter into the realm of the divine than two eyes having to be tossed into Gehenna.
The Worm
This verse appears only once in modern Bible versions and in our oldest and best Greek sources. However, it is repeated three times in the King James Version, appearing here and earlier in Mark 9:46 and Mark 9:44. It was also repeated three times in the Textus Receptus, the Greek source of the KJV, and in the even older Latin Vulgate. Each repetition follows a different “tossed in fire” verse.
Jesus is referring to Isaiah 66:24. This chapter of Isaiah describes a vision where the Divine goes out and slays all his enemies with fire and the sword. In the end, the only ones living are those who accept the Divine. Those people go out to look at the Lord’s dead enemies. “And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched;”
This is the only verse in the Old Testament that mentions a worm and fire. It is also the only verse from Jesus that refers to a worm. The type of worm is a specific type of maggot that feeds on the dead, the coccus ilicis, where the female attaches herself to a tree when she dies, protecting the eggs beneath her. As she dies, she releases a red fluid that stains her body and the wood. This fluid was the basis for scarlet dye during Jesus’s era. The Greek word for the color scarlet is kokkinos, which refers to the kernel shape of the dead worm. 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. Early Christians saw this as a symbol of Jesus’s blood staining the wood of his cross. This gives the worm another surprising connection to the Greek word for “fire.” The verb pyrrazo means “to make red.” Its root is, of course, pyr.
So this particular worm is connected to dying things red. What was the Greek word for a “dye” in Jesus’s era? It is based on the verb translated as “baptize,” baptizo, that means “to dunk” or “to dip” (see this article). The Greek word for “dye” is baphe (βαφή), a form of the verb. It means “being dipped.” The word translated as “not quenched” is another uncommon verb. For fire, it means “to put out,” but for liquids, it means “to dry out.” We must “dry out” cloth that is dipped in dye. And, of course, fire dries out things and death dries out as well. This is another connection to dyeing and physically dying.
Perhaps all these connections are purely coincidental. Like the fact that “dye” sounds like “die” in English. But could Jesus have seen these connections as entertaining, leaving them to be discovered like Easter Eggs by his followers? Only if he had a sense of fun.
Salted with Fire
Maybe the meaning of this “worm” will become clearer if we look at the next verse.
NIV: Everyone will be salted with fire.
Only four words in Greek. A longer version appears in the King James Version, above, about sacrifices being salted. That line was added in the Latin Vulgate, perhaps to inform readers that the Greek word pyr implies sacrifices to the Divine, which were burnt offerings that were salted.
Notice that Jesus says “everyone,” not just his followers and not just the evil. The “with” here comes from the form of the word “fire.” The form of the word often needs a preposition in English to translate it. Here, it can “with” or “by” for instruments or agents, which seems to be the sense here.
The verb translated as “salted,” primary means “being gathered together.” The Greek noun “salt” is also an adjective that means “crowded” and “grouped together.” Jesus uses the verb form only twice, in this verse and the “salt of the earth” verse in Matthew’s Sermon. In Mark, it is followed by another line that appears in Matthew, about salt losing its saltiness. So Jesus is saying that we are salted by fire, but we are also brought together by fire.
But the “salted” meaning also has a many hidden dimensions. In Jesus’s era, salt was used as money, as a preservative, and as a seasoning. Roman soldiers were sometimes paid in salt giving rise to the idea of “being worth your salt.” Sharing salt was a sign of trust. The term “salted” means being “quick-minded” an idea recorded in the Talmud. Salt was required for burnt offerings in Leviticus 2:13. Salt was a symbol of the covenant with God. Particularly inviolable obligations were designated as “salt covenants” (Numbers 18:19; 2 Chron. 13:5).
So when we are salted we are preserved, paid, seasoned, accepting an obligation, and prepared for sacrifice. How does “fire” fit into this? Like the color scarlet, fire is related to sacrifice and purification. According to Numbers 31:23:
KJV: Every thing that may abide the fire, ye shall make it go through the fire, and it shall be clean:….
Things that were dedicated to the Divine, like instruments used in the Temple, had to pass through fire, if they could stand it. They were also passed through water, which means being dunked to be purified, which also means being dyed scarlet, the color of worship, dyed by the worm that never dies.
Conclusions
All the symbolic connections of “the worm,” plus this symbolism of “salted” with its double meaning of “brought together,” makes this my favorite verse on fire. Jesus is saying that we are all salted or brought together by fire. Maybe that is why Christianity chose to create the idea of hell as a threat: the fear of punishment brings people together.
Because of the reference to Isaiah, there is some threat in these words, but the focus is clearly on sacrifice and purification. And, a bit of fun.