9:45a

If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off: This verse is a figurative example with the same meaning as 9:43a. You should translate it in a similar way to 9:43a.

• If you indicated that 9:43a was a figurative example, you should do so here. For example:

If as a figurative example your foot causes you to sin, cut it off.

• If you included the non-figurative meaning and made the metaphor into a simile in 9:43a, you should do that here also. For example:

Remove and throw away any cause of sin! Reject it as completely as if you were cutting off a foot that causes you to sin.

• If you included a footnote at 9:43a to explain the meaning, you do not need another footnote here. The footnote at 9:43a refers to both verses.

9:45b–c

It is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and be thrown into hell: This is a comparison like 9:42b–c.

Here are some ways that languages may show this comparison:

• One situation is better than the other (as in the Berean Standard Bible).

• One situation is worse than the other. For example:

Having two feet and going to hell is worse than having one foot and going to heaven.
-or-
It may seem hard to enter heaven with one foot missing, but it is far worse to keep both feet and enter hell.

• One situation is good. The other situation is bad. For example:

If you go to heaven, even if you have only one foot, that is good. But if you keep two feet and go to hell, that is bad.

9:45b

enter life: The phrase enter life was also used in 9:43b. In these verses it refers to eternal life in heaven with God.

Here are some other ways to translate enter life:

enter heaven (New Living Translation, 1996 edition)
-or-
go to live forever where God dwells

lame: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as lame describes someone who is lame or cannot walk well. In this context it specifically refers to someone who has had a foot cut off.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

lame (God’s Word)
-or-
without a foot (Good News Bible)
-or-
missing one foot

9:45c

be thrown into hell: This clause is passive. The focus here is on the pronoun “you” from 9:45b. If a passive clause is not natural in this context in your language, you may want to use an active clause. If you need to supply a subject, the implied subject should be God. For example:

God will throw you into hell

If possible, keep the focus on the pronoun “you.”

into hell: There is a textual issue here:

(1) The earliest Greek manuscripts have the words into hell here. Most English versions follow these manuscripts. For example, the Revised Standard Version says:

into hell

(New International Version, Good News Bible, Revised Standard Version, New Jerusalem Bible, English Standard Version, NET Bible, New American Standard Bible, Revised English Bible, God’s Word, New Living Translation, Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English, New Century Version)

(2) Some later Greek manuscripts have into hell into the unquenchable fire. For example, the Contemporary English Version says:

into the fires of hell that never go out

(King James Version, Contemporary English Version)

It is recommended that you follow option (1). You should translate only the words into hell here.

hell: See the note on hell at 9:43c for ways to translate this word.

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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
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