Mark 9:43

Plain English Version

Look, if there is something that gets you to go wrong, you have to stop yourself. If you want to do something bad with your hand, you have to stop yourself from doing it. It is like you have to cut off your hand. It is better for you to live with God for ever with only one hand, than for God to send you to hell with 2 hands. That fire in hell never goes out.

Cross References

Matthew 17:27

But we don’t want to make those tax men angry. So get a fishing line, and go down to the lake, and throw in the line to catch a fish. Get the first fish that you catch, open its mouth, and you will find a gold coin inside it. Take that coin, and give it to those tax men. It will be enough money for both my tax and your tax.”

Matthew 25:41

Then I will turn to the people on my left-hand side, and I will say to them, ‘Get away from me, you mob that God will punish. Go into that big fire that burns for ever. God made that fire for all the bad spirits and for their boss, the devil. And you have to go there too.

Matthew 3:12

You know the way a farmer gets all the seeds from the plants he grows. He hits the seed heads with a stick and throws them in the air, so that the seeds fall off the plants. Then he gathers all the seeds and puts them in his shed. But he burns all the rest. It is rubbish, and he burns it in a fire. Well, God is like that farmer. He’s got that stick in his hand right now. If you turn around and live God’s way, he will look after you. But if you don’t, he will throw you in the fire that never goes out.”

Matthew 5:22

But now I’m telling you this. Don’t even get angry with anybody. That is bad too. If you are angry with somebody, God will be your judge, and he will punish you. Or if you call somebody bad names, you will end up in God’s court. And if you get really angry with somebody, and if you tell them, ‘You are a stupid fool,’ God will judge you for that, and he can send you into the big fire called hell.”

Luke 14:13

Instead of that, ask poor people to come and eat with you. Maybe they are crippled, or blind, or they can’t walk, so they can’t get jobs to get some money, so they are too poor to put on a dinner for you.

Luke 14:21

The work-man went back to his boss and told him their stories. Then his boss was very angry. He said to his work-man, ‘Go quickly now to every street in this town, and get the poor people, and bring them here to eat this dinner. Bring the people that are crippled, and the people that are blind, and the people that can’t walk.’

Romans 8:13

If you keep on doing those bad things, you will die. But if God’s spirit is in you, he can help you block that bad part of you, like you kill it, and then you will not do those bad things, and you will live with God for ever.

1 Corinthians 9:27

I control my body, and I make it do what is right. I want God to give me that good prize. I don’t want God to say to me, “You went wrong. You didn’t do what you told other people to do. So you don’t get new life.”

Galatians 5:24

You see, sometimes doing bad things makes people feel good. But people that belong to Jesus Christ stop doing those bad things. That bad part inside them might make them feel like doing those bad things, but they don’t take any notice of it any more. It is like they nailed it to a cross and killed it.

Colossians 3:5

So now you have to stop doing bad things. If that bad part inside you wants you to do something bad, don’t do it. It’s like you have to kill that old bad part inside you. Don’t listen to it. Don’t sleep with anyone that is not your wife or your husband, as if you are married to them. And don’t think bad, dirty thoughts. Don’t think about doing bad things. Don’t be greedy, wanting lots of money and things. Greedy people respect money and things more than they respect God.

Titus 2:12

He teaches us to say no to the bad things of this world. He tells us not to live a wild life. He tells us to control ourselves. He tells us to do good things that make him happy.

1 Peter 2:1

So clean up your lives and stop doing bad things. Don’t tell lies, but tell the straight and true story. Don’t say you are good if you are not. Stop being jealous of other people, don’t hate them because they have something that you don’t have. And don’t rubbish another person.