Mar 9:48 Where their worm dies not,
Mar 9:48 Where their worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched.
Alternative: Where the worm of self never ends and the fire does not go out.
This is the third of three repetitions of this phrase at the end of this chapter.
It was good that Christ repeated it three times. There is something very subtle Christ is doing in the Greek that we have to see more than once to recognize.
Notice the term translated as the possessive pronouns "their" in "their worm." What does "their" refer to? The subject of the previous verse was "you" not them. Shouldn't it be "your worm never dies?" Why wasn't in translated that way? The word used, autos works as either .
The word autos also has a deeper meaning. One that is even more relevant in this chapter about spirit. It means "self." This whole chapter focuses on the question of the physical self and spiritual self. In Mark 9:21, we discussed how the possessing spirit becomes "self." Quoting that post seems appropriate here:
The word translated as "him" is the Greek "autos," which means "self" with very much the idea of our true selves, what we really are as opposed to what we appear. All of life is temporary because it is a process of becoming something. Our true selves are not what we are born but what we become with time both through our own choices and the things that happen to us.
All of us have spent our whole lives becoming what we are today, but all of life is temporary. What we are today can change in an instant even if we have spent our whole lives becoming what we are now. A moment of truth can transform everything we have become into everything we can be in an instant.
However, here, Christ extends that idea one step further. Our idea of self can become a worm (see first iteration for a discussion of worm), trapping us into thinking of ourselves as temporal instead of eternal, physical instead of spiritual.
"Worm" is from skôlêx (skolex), which means "worm," specifically, "earthworm," "grub," "larvae," and "worms in dung, decaying matter and trees and word."
"Like this" is from autos (autos), which means "the same," and the reflexive pronouns, "myself," "yourself," "himself," "herself," "itself," or the oblique case of the pronouns, "him," "her," and "it." It also means "one's true self," that is, "the soul" as opposed to the body and "of ones own accord."
"Die" is from teleutaô (teleutao), which means "to bring to pass," "to accomplish," "to finish," "to die," "to end a life," and "to make an end to life." (Christ uses this word Mar 7:10, for the OT Hebew word, muwth, which means "to die" and "to kill.")
"Fire" is from pur (pyr), which means "fire," "sacrificial fire," "funeral fire," "hearth-fire," "lightning," "the light of torches," and "heat of fever."
"Quenched" is from sbennumi (sbennymi), which means "quench," "put out," "dry up," "run dry," and "go out."
