The structure of this verse is basically the same as that of verse 29. Here the right hand is used in place of the right eye as an application of the teaching about adultery, and there is a shift in the verb from “be thrown into” to go into. Both verbs are very common, and they generally are translated similarly to the way that Revised Standard Version has done. In some languages it may be necessary to shift the first three verbs to an active form. If the meaning of “hell” is accepted for Gehenna, then God may be made the subject of the active verb. One should not assume that the reference is to the valley outside of Jerusalem and to the individual’s body being thrown into that after death. This would make little sense in the context, for then the verse would lose its impact, which is the threat of punishment for the offender. In order for this verse to carry through its full impact, the reference must be to hell as a place of punishment, rather than to the garbage pile outside of Jerusalem, where the worst that can happen is for the person’s body to be consumed after death.

Translators will generally translate this verse very much as they did verse 29. As with “right eye,” right hand may in some languages be “one of your hands,” “your hand,” or “your hands.”

One slight difference from verse 29 is that here the text says go into hell, not “be thrown into hell,” but the meaning is essentially the same. Thus the phrase may be “than that your whole body go to hell (or be sent to hell, or be sent by God to hell)” or “than that God send you to hell.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .