Mark 9:43 (WEB)

Passage

If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having your two hands to go into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire,

Nearby Context

Mark 9:41 For whoever will give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because you are Christ’s, most certainly I tell you, he will in no way lose his reward.

Mark 9:42 Whoever will cause one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him if he were thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around his neck.

Mark 9:43 If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having your two hands to go into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire,

Mark 9:44 ‘where their worm doesn’t die, and the fire is not quenched.’ Isaiah 66:24

Mark 9:45 If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life lame, rather than having your two feet to be cast into Gehenna, into the fire that will never be quenched—

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "hand", "causes", "stumble", "better", "enter", "life", "maimed", and "rather". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "hand" and "causes", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 42's "Whoever will cause one of these little..." into verse 44's "where their worm doesn t die and...", so "hand" and "causes" belong inside that flow. In Mark context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

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