Complete textual-variant dossier
Adverse entailment established
Sections distinguish readings, edition history, evidence, theological consequences, and the Research Center's evaluation. CBGM is an analytical tool; editorial committees—not the software—make textual decisions.
1Passage and issue
Passage
Issue
The received text repeats Isaiah’s warning after the hand, foot, and eye sayings. The critical text keeps it only at verse 48, omitting verses 44 and 46 as apparent duplication.
Variant class
Punctuation
2Textus Receptus
Greek reading
The refrain appears three times, at verses 44, 46, and 48.
Authorized Version
“Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.” — Mark 9:44, 46, 48
Edition note
The Research Center uses the received Greek text underlying the Authorized Version as its baseline; edition-specific differences are recorded when the variation unit requires them.
Historical annotation witness
Erasmus’s Annotationes
Erasmus’s printed Greek text, his Latin annotation, and the Research Center’s evaluation are distinct evidence. Each edition remains separately identified because Erasmus revised the Annotationes across his five editions.
Not yet assessed. No inference about Erasmus’s silence has been made. A Latin annotation and translation will appear here only after an edition and exact locus have been verified.
The Erasmus annotation audit has not yet been completed for this locus. Do not infer from this status that Erasmus was silent.
Westminster and Dutch annotation witnesses
Westminster Annotations
Not yet assessed. No inference from silence is made.
Dutch Annotations
Not yet assessed. No inference from silence is made.
3NA28 baseline and critical-text rationale
NA28 baseline reading
Verses 44 and 46 are omitted, leaving the refrain only once at verse 48.
Translation or explanation
Verses 44 and 46 are omitted, leaving the refrain only once at verse 48.
Metzger’s report of the UBS committee
Metzger reports the UBS4 committee's treatment of 3 variation units within this record's range. The notes ground the relevant decisions in the weight and distribution of external attestation, scribal harmonization to a parallel passage, the likelihood of scribal or liturgical expansion; the printed confidence rating represented here is {A}. This is a controlled synopsis rather than a quotation.
Locator: Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, 2nd ed., notes on Mark 9:44, 9:45, 9:46
ECM / CBGM evidence and editors
No passage-specific ECM/CBGM editorial explanation is attached to this record. Official method sources describe the CBGM as a set of coherence procedures, not a decision-maker: editors define variation units and local stemmata and evaluate pre-genealogical, genealogical, and stemmatic coherence together with transcriptional, intrinsic, and other philological evidence.
4UBS6 and intended NA29 revision
No UBS6 / intended NA29 main-text change is recorded for this passage in the controlled 169-change ledger.
No change row is attached to this passage.
UBS6 is published, and the German Bible Society identifies its Greek main text as identical to the intended NA29 main text. The complete NA29 volume and its apparatus remain forthcoming. Project-ledger rows retain their source and verification statements until they are checked against the published UBS6 text and, when available, the NA29 apparatus.
5Doctrinal and four-point analysis
Effect class
Exegetical or interpretive consequence
Exact proposition affected
The triune identity of the Father, the Son/Word, and the Holy Ghost.
Doctrinal analysis
Exegetical or interpretive consequence. The record does not establish that the variant by itself removes an entire Christian doctrine; explicit wording, exegesis, and cumulative testimony must be distinguished.
Controlled source-list matches
Doctrinal significance and Westminster use
This passage is listed in one or both controlling research files. Their claims are reported with exact source identity and confessional use; list membership does not by itself establish the original reading or the Research Center’s final entailment.
Doctrinally significant variant listMark 9.44, 46
Doctrinally Significant Variants Itemised
Anonymous compilation — supplied source file pp. 11–12
Doctrine or doctrinal consequence identified by the source
This very important reference to Isaiah 66.24 clearly teaches the doctrine of eternal punishment, and disproves the modern heresy of annihilationism. For indeed, how could the worm that eats at the wicked not die, except its victims suffer forever? On the other hand, the Critical Text omission of these words gives countenance to the modern error of annihilationism.
Source-reported readings and witness argument
Received reading reported
[In both verses] Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
Critical reading reported
[Omit] (NOTE: Interestingly, the New American Standard has opted to include these verses, though the NIV and the New Revised Standard Version both omit them.)
Manuscript and patristic support reported by the source
The deletion of these words by the Nestle-Aland is supported by Codices Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, and Ephraemi (a Late Alexandrian manuscript). The inclusion of them is found in the universal witness of the Byzantine Text going back to Codex Alexandrinus, as well as in the Diatessaron of Tatian in the 2nd century, Irenaeus' book Against Heresies written in the 3rd century, in Chrysostom's work entitled 'Treatise on the Christian Priesthood' in the 4th century, and in Chrysostom's homilies on the Book of Acts.
Editorial qualification: The compilation’s doctrinal inferences and witness claims are reported as its argument, not silently adopted as verified fact. Exact entailment is retained: weakening an explicit statement is not automatically a formal denial of the doctrine.
Westminster proof-text listMark 9:44
A List of Omissions and Changes Found in the Critical Text to Verses Used as Proof Texts in the Westminster Standards
Seth Stark — supplied source file pp. 35–36, 36
Textual wording marked in the source
Critical/ESV side: ESV: ENTIRE VERSE IS OMITTED.
Westminster doctrines and propositions supported
WLC 29 — What are the punishments of sin in the world to come?
Portion identified in the source as supported by this proof text:
- The punishments of sin in the world to come, are everlasting separation from the comfortable presence of God, and most grievous torments in soul and body, without intermission, in hell-fire forever.
WLC 83 — What is the communion in glory with Christ which the members of the invisible church enjoy in this life?
Portion identified in the source as supported by this proof text:
- as, on the contrary, sense of God’s revenging wrath, horror of conscience, and a fearful expectation of judgment, are to the wicked the beginning of their torments which they shall endure after death.
Editorial qualification: This establishes a confessional proof-text and reception connection. It does not by itself establish the original reading, and its English-version comparison must be checked against the Greek variation unit.
Westminster proof-text listMark 9:45
A List of Omissions and Changes Found in the Critical Text to Verses Used as Proof Texts in the Westminster Standards
Seth Stark — supplied source file pp. 35–36, 36
Textual wording marked in the source
Received/NKJV side: into the fire that shall never be quenched
Westminster doctrines and propositions supported
WLC 29 — What are the punishments of sin in the world to come?
Portion identified in the source as supported by this proof text:
- The punishments of sin in the world to come, are everlasting separation from the comfortable presence of God, and most grievous torments in soul and body, without intermission, in hell-fire forever.
Editorial qualification: This establishes a confessional proof-text and reception connection. It does not by itself establish the original reading, and its English-version comparison must be checked against the Greek variation unit.
Westminster proof-text listMark 9:46
A List of Omissions and Changes Found in the Critical Text to Verses Used as Proof Texts in the Westminster Standards
Seth Stark — supplied source file pp. 35–36, 36
Textual wording marked in the source
Critical/ESV side: ESV: ENTIRE VERSE IS OMITTED.
Westminster doctrines and propositions supported
WLC 29 — What are the punishments of sin in the world to come?
Portion identified in the source as supported by this proof text:
- The punishments of sin in the world to come, are everlasting separation from the comfortable presence of God, and most grievous torments in soul and body, without intermission, in hell-fire forever.
Editorial qualification: This establishes a confessional proof-text and reception connection. It does not by itself establish the original reading, and its English-version comparison must be checked against the Greek variation unit.
Bahnsen four-point examination
Arbitrariness
At Mark 9:44–46, the critical choice avoids arbitrariness only to the extent that it states public manuscript, transcriptional, and intrinsic grounds. Editorial status: Preliminary record accepted for staging; independent review remains pending. The critical text omits verses 44 and 46 and retains the Isaiah quotation only after the eye saying in verse 48. Each loss is preferable to Gehenna.
Inconsistency
The criteria used at Mark 9:44–46 must be applied to comparable readings as well. A principle such as age, difficulty, brevity, or coherence cannot be decisive here and quietly reversed elsewhere merely to escape a historical, grammatical, or theological difficulty.
Consequences
Exegetical or interpretive consequence: The triune identity of the Father, the Son/Word, and the Holy Ghost.
Preconditions of intelligibility
The argument presupposes stable authorship, meaningful language, objective logical norms, transmissible evidence, and a coherent account of how Scripture can be received and identified by the church. The analysis tests whether the method can make those conditions intelligible without reducing the text to an indefinitely revisable editorial construct.
This framework examines an argument and its conditions; it does not claim to read an editor's private motives.
6Argument for the received reading
External and historical evidence
, The New Testament in the Original Greek according to the Text Followed in the Authorised Version (Cambridge, 1894).
Internal and transcriptional evidence
Repetition makes addition plausible. A copyist who knew the refrain at the paragraph’s close could insert it after the first two warnings, giving each bodily member the same conclusion. Omission also has familiar causes.
Reception and ecclesiastical use
That typographical survival reminds readers that chapter and verse systems were built around a textual tradition. With the majority tradition and the paragraph’s triadic structure together, verses 44 and 46 should remain.
Providential-preservation analysis
Providential preservation is not used as a substitute for evidence at Mark 9:44–46. It supplies the confessional context in which manuscript transmission, broad reception, and the church's actual possession of Scripture are evaluated together.
Canonical coherence with the rest of Scripture
Canonical coherence remains an explicit test: a proposed reading must make grammatical and theological sense within the immediate context and the rest of Scripture. No conflict is asserted merely because two editions differ; the claimed incoherence must be demonstrated at this passage.
Canonical-coherence verdict
The Authorized Version is retained where its representation of the TR forms a coherent reading within the immediate context and the rest of Scripture. Any competing form must demonstrate an equal or better canonical fit rather than merely invoke an edition or method label.
Response to the principal critical argument
Editorial status: Preliminary record accepted for staging; independent review remains pending. The critical text omits verses 44 and 46 and retains the Isaiah quotation only after the eye saying in verse 48. Each loss is preferable to Gehenna.
Passage-specific evidence from consulted works
Core 0.6.3 supplied-source audit complete: 2 passage-specific notes attached. Incidental citations and global-method sources are retained in the audit report rather than presented as local textual evidence.
A List of Omissions and Changes Found in the Critical Text to Verses Used as Proof Texts in the Westminster StandardsWestminster proof-text and translation comparison
Seth Stark — supplied PDF pp. 35–36, 36
At Mark 9:44, it compares the NKJV/TR-oriented wording “where ‘Their worm does not die And the fire is not quenched.’”” with the ESV/critical-text wording “ENTIRE VERSE IS OMITTED.” and associates the passage with WLC 29. At Mark 9:45, it compares the NKJV/TR-oriented wording “And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame, rather than having two feet, to be cast into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched”” with the ESV/critical-text wording “And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell.”” and associates the passage with WLC 29. At Mark 9:46, it compares the NKJV/TR-oriented wording “where ‘Their worm does not die And the fire is not quenched.’”” with the ESV/critical-text wording “ENTIRE VERSE IS OMITTED.” and associates the passage with WLC 29.
Editorial use: This establishes a confessional proof-text and reception connection. It does not by itself establish the original reading, and its English-version comparison must be checked against the Greek variation unit.
Doctrinally Significant Variants ItemisedAttributed doctrinal and canonical-coherence argument
Anonymous compilation — supplied PDF pp. 11–12
Mark 9.44, 46: It sets “[In both verses] Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.” against “[Omit] (NOTE: Interestingly, the New American Standard has opted to include these verses, though the NIV and the New Revised Standard Version both omit them.).” Its stated doctrinal argument is that This very important reference to Isaiah 66.24 clearly teaches the doctrine of eternal punishment, and disproves the modern heresy of annihilationism. For indeed, how could the worm that eats at the wicked not die, except its victims suffer forever? On the other hand, the Critical Text omission of these words gives countenance to the modern error of annihilationism. The compilation appeals to The deletion of these words by the Nestle-Aland is supported by Codices Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, and Ephraemi (a Late Alexandrian manuscript). The inclusion of them is found in the universal witness of the Byzantine Text going back to Codex Alexandrinus, as well as in the Diatessaron of Tatian in the 2nd century,xlviii Irenaeus' book Against Heresies written in the 3rd century,xlix in Chrysostom's work entitled…
Editorial use: The compilation’s doctrinal inferences and witness claims are reported as its argument, not silently adopted as verified fact. Exact entailment is retained: weakening an explicit statement is not automatically a formal denial of the doctrine.
Conclusion
Verse numbering reflects the received form: the omitted refrains still occupy 44 and 46 in modern Bibles, usually as blank or footnoted numbers. That typographical survival reminds readers that chapter and verse systems were built around a textual tradition. It does not prove authenticity, but it explains why deletion creates visible gaps and why a WordPress importer should preserve the canonical reference rather than silently renumber the paragraph.
The threefold received refrain belongs to the oral force of the passage. Its very repetitiveness explains why editors suspect expansion, but also why scribes could abbreviate it. With the majority tradition and the paragraph’s triadic structure together, verses 44 and 46 should remain. The warning is repeated because disciples are skilled at granting themselves exceptions.
Logical entailment
The Authorized Version serves as the faithful English representation. The preservation claim applies immediately to the authentic Hebrew and Greek texts—not to an English translation as though it were the inspired source.
Canonical-status rule: Physical printing is not canonical inclusion. If an edition prints a passage in double brackets while judging it secondary or non-original, it disagrees with the received text concerning the identity and extent of inspired Scripture.
Status: Established
Immediate textual or doctrinal consequence
At Mark 9:44–46, the received text reads “The refrain appears three times, at verses 44, 46, and 48.” and its Authorized Version representation reads “Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.” — Mark 9:44, 46, 48”. The assessed critical reading is “Verses 44 and 46 are omitted, leaving the refrain only once at verse 48.”. The immediate consequence is that the critical text no longer states the received wording at this locus. The immediate local effect is exegetical or interpretive; this argument does not claim that a distinct Christian doctrine disappears from the verse.
Necessary reasoning chain
- At Mark 9:44–46, the received Hebrew/Greek form is “The refrain appears three times, at verses 44, 46, and 48.”; the Authorized Version represents it as “Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.” — Mark 9:44, 46, 48”. The assessed critical form is “Verses 44 and 46 are omitted, leaving the refrain only once at verse 48.”.
- The received and critical forms are not the same at this locus. Therefore, if the competing critical form is original, the received form is secondary rather than the authentic wording at this place. The immediate consequence is: At Mark 9:44–46, the received text reads “The refrain appears three times, at verses 44, 46, and 48.” and its Authorized Version representation reads “Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.” — Mark 9:44, 46, 48”. The assessed critical reading is “Verses 44 and 46 are omitted, leaving the refrain only once at verse 48.”. The immediate consequence is that the critical text no longer states the received wording at this locus. The immediate local effect is exegetical or interpretive; this argument does not claim that a distinct Christian doctrine disappears from the verse.
- If the received form at this place is secondary rather than original, then the authentic Hebrew/Greek text was not kept pure at this place in the received textual tradition; therefore the unqualified confessional preservation claim must be denied or redefined.
Ultimate preservation consequence
If the competing reading is original and the received reading is secondary, then God did not preserve and keep pure the authentic text at this place in the received textual tradition. The unqualified confessional claim that Scripture was kept pure in all ages must therefore be denied or redefined.
Sources
- Westminster Confession of Faith (1647)Chapter 1, section 8 — Governing confessional preservation claim
- F. H. A. Scrivener, The New Testament in the Original Greek according to the Text followed in the Authorized VersionReceived Greek reading
- Digital ECM — Mark 9:44–46Current critical-edition, ECM, or editorial documentation
- A List of Omissions and Changes Found in the Critical Text to Verses Used as Proof Texts in the Westminster Standardssupplied PDF pp. 35–36, 36 — Westminster proof-text and translation comparison
- Doctrinally Significant Variants Itemisedsupplied PDF pp. 11–12 — Attributed doctrinal and canonical-coherence argument
Read the full research essay and its sources
Passage: Mark 9:44–46
Received reading: The refrain appears three times, at verses 44, 46, and 48.
Principal competing reading: Verses 44 and 46 are omitted, leaving the refrain only once at verse 48.
Editorial status: Preliminary record accepted for staging; independent review remains pending.
“Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.” — Mark 9:44, 46, 48
The received paragraph has a terrible rhythm. After the hand, the foot, and the eye, it repeats: “Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.” The critical text omits verses 44 and 46 and retains the Isaiah quotation only after the eye saying in verse 48.
Repetition makes addition plausible. A copyist who knew the refrain at the paragraph’s close could insert it after the first two warnings, giving each bodily member the same conclusion. Liturgical reading and oral memory would encourage the pattern.
A deliberately relentless warning
Mark’s rhetoric already comes in threes. Cut off the offending hand; cut off the foot; cast out the eye. Each loss is preferable to Gehenna. Repeating the reason after each command can be original design rather than scribal enthusiasm. The hearer is not permitted to rush past the first threat while waiting for a final explanation.
Omission also has familiar causes. Two identical verses enclosed by closely parallel sentences invite the eye to jump. A scribe may treat the refrains as redundant, especially when verse 48 preserves the full quotation and the sense appears complete. Lectionary compression could likewise retain one occurrence.
The words come from Isaiah 66:24, where covenant rebels become an abhorrence. Jesus does not borrow the imagery to satisfy curiosity about the physics of the intermediate state. He announces irreversible divine judgment in order to expose the seriousness of sin.
“Their worm” and “the fire” should not be reduced to harmless metaphors. Figures can communicate realities more dreadful than their images. Nor should the command to cut off members be read as a mandate for mutilation; Jesus demands ruthless mortification of whatever occasions sin, not destruction of the body God made.
Verse numbering reflects the received form: the omitted refrains still occupy 44 and 46 in modern Bibles, usually as blank or footnoted numbers. That typographical survival reminds readers that chapter and verse systems were built around a textual tradition. It does not prove authenticity, but it explains why deletion creates visible gaps and why a WordPress importer should preserve the canonical reference rather than silently renumber the paragraph.
The threefold received refrain belongs to the oral force of the passage. Its very repetitiveness explains why editors suspect expansion, but also why scribes could abbreviate it. With the majority tradition and the paragraph’s triadic structure together, verses 44 and 46 should remain. The warning is repeated because disciples are skilled at granting themselves exceptions.
Sources and further reading
- F. H. A. Scrivener, ed., The New Testament in the Original Greek according to the Text Followed in the Authorised Version (Cambridge, 1894).
- Michael W. Holmes, ed., The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition (Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010), text and apparatus.
- Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, 2nd ed., notes on the stated passage.
- Isaiah 66:22–24; Mark 9:42–50; Matthew 5:27–30; 18:8–9.
7Related materials
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- Record
- VAR-2034
- Status
- Preliminary
- Version
- 1.1-dossier
- Review
- Level B — Editorial synthesis
- Editor
- Chris Thomas
- Reviewer
- Independent reviewer pending assignment
- First date
- 1st century · Date Range
- Last revised
- 2026-07-22
Evidence and editorial controls
- Verification
- Passage, principal readings, and stated editorial comparison checked against Scrivener’s received Greek text and the SBLGNT apparatus; exhaustive manuscript collation remains open. Metzger commentary entries were matched by exact passage where present; ECM/CBGM rationale is passage-specific only when an official editorial explanation is cited. Ledger rows are identified as UBS6 / intended NA29 data but retain their row-level verification caveats pending direct collation. Supplied-source audit completed in Core 0.6.3. Accepted local notes were matched by canonical passage and manually bounded; source claims remain attributed where current apparatus verification is pending.
- Rights and access
- Original editorial synthesis. Biblical readings are short scholarly quotations; cited editions and digital witnesses retain their stated rights and access conditions.
- Known limitations
- This staging record summarizes the principal variation unit and representative evidence. It is not a fresh collation of every extant manuscript, version, lectionary, or patristic citation.
Links from this record
No public outgoing links are recorded.
Records that cite or connect here
No public backlinks are recorded.
Corrections and evidence submissions
No correction submission is presently attached to this record. Submit evidence or read the correction policy.
Chris Thomas, “Mark 9:44–46 — “Their Worm Dieth Not” and “the Fire That Never Shall Be Quenched”,” VAR-2034, Confessional Bibliology Research Center, version 1.0-staging, last revised 2026-07-22.
Revision history
- — Chris Thomas