Matthew 18:8 (DBY)

Passage

And if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut it off and cast [it] from thee; it is good for thee to enter into life lame or maimed, [rather] than having two hands or two feet to be cast into eternal fire.

Nearby Context

Matthew 18:6 But whosoever shall offend one of these little ones who believe in me, it were profitable for him that a great millstone had been hanged upon his neck and he be sunk in the depths of the sea.

Matthew 18:7 Woe to the world because of offences! For it must needs be that offences come; yet woe to that man by whom the offence comes!

Matthew 18:8 And if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut it off and cast [it] from thee; it is good for thee to enter into life lame or maimed, [rather] than having two hands or two feet to be cast into eternal fire.

Matthew 18:9 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast [it] from thee; it is good for thee to enter into life one-eyed, [rather] than having two eyes to be cast into the hell of fire.

Matthew 18:10 See that ye do not despise one of these little ones; for I say unto you that their angels in [the] heavens continually behold the face of my Father who is in [the] heavens.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "hand", "foot", "offend", "thee", "cast", and "good". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "hand" and "foot", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 7's "Woe to the world because of offences..." into verse 9's "And if thine eye offend thee pluck...", so "hand" and "foot" belong inside that flow. In Matthew context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "hand" and "foot" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.