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Mar 9:43-4:

And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched. Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.

Does the possessive pronoun in the original text refer to hands or to people in general?

Mar 9:45-6:

And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched. Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.

Does the possessive pronoun in the original text refer to feet or to people in general?

Mar 9:47-8:

And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire. Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.

Does the possessive pronoun in the original text refer to eyes or to people in general?

In English it is common to use pronouns to refer to people in general, rather than to a specified group of people. For example:

There were some children playing in the sand box. They were all happy.

(The pronoun refers to a specified group of people - children in the sand box)

I am very happy to finally see these results - as they say, if at first you don’t succeed, try and try again

(The pronoun refers to people in general)

However, I don't know if there was a similar usage of pronouns in the N.T. Greek.

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    I'm curious as to which version you're citing. It appears to be KJV (which has its own set of exegetical issues).
    – swasheck
    Jan 9, 2014 at 4:58
  • @swasheck - Yes, it's KJV.
    – brilliant
    Jan 9, 2014 at 5:06
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    good to know. so are you more interested in knowing about the greek usage of a pronoun, or the usage of the pronoun in this text (which doesn't exist most of the texts and has been omitted by modern english translations)?
    – swasheck
    Jan 9, 2014 at 5:13
  • @swasheck - I am interested in the usage of the high-lightened pronouns in this text, mainly, what they are referring to. You say "doesn't exist in most of the texts" - do you mean here the (usage of) pronoun or the the whole passage?
    – brilliant
    Jan 9, 2014 at 5:20
  • I mean that it doesn't exist in the UBS or NA Greek texts. the verse number is simply omitted, most likely due to the fact that these are not in the original text (specifically the phrase, "Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched."). I don't have my UBS apparatus handy or we could step through the TC on this. In summary, the only answer one could give you would be a basic overview of the function of pronouns in Greek (and English) (e.g. resumptive, relative, subject, etc).
    – swasheck
    Jan 9, 2014 at 5:35

1 Answer 1

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Robertson says, "See Isaiah 66:24." Reading Isaiah 66:24:

Then they will go forth and look On the corpses of the men Who have transgressed against Me. For their worm will not die And their fire will not be quenched; And they will be an abhorrence to all mankind.

...makes it pretty clear that "their" refers to "the men who have transgressed against me." The quote in Mark is almost word for word with the Septuagint, except the LXX uses the subjunctive forms of "die" and "quenched". Verses 44 and 46, whether present in various papyri or not, merely repeat the same.

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