“And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: It is better for thee to enter into life maimed, then hauing two hands, to goe into hell, into the fire that neuer shall be quenched:”
1611 King James Version (KJV)
9:43 And if a person cause thee to offend - (The discourse passes from the case of offending, to that of being offended) if one who is as useful or dear to thee as a hand or eye, hinder or slacken thee in the ways of Cod, renounce all intercourse with him. This primarily relates to persons, secondarily to things. #Mt 5:29|; Mt 18:8.
Mr 9:43 The fire that never shall be quenched. See PNT "Mt 5:29". The fires that were occasionally lit in the literal Gehenna, or Tophet, were necessarily only temporary. They died out for want of fuel. It was to be otherwise with the "fire" of the other and ulterior Tophet. The "fire" referred to is, of course, a mere symbol of the sum total of certain dreadful realities, for which there are no adequate representations in human language.