The end of the Sunday gospel reading makes several references to Gehenna beginning in v.43. Gehenna is derived from the Hebrew ge-hinnom = “Valley of Hinnom”. In that place some of the less-than-holy kings of Judah engaged in forbidden religious practices, including human sacrifice by fire (2 Chron. 28:3; 33:6; Jer. 7:31; 32:35). Jeremiah spoke of its judgment and destruction (Jer. 7:32; 19:6). King Josiah put an end to these practices by destroying and defiling the high place of the valley of Hinnom (2 Kings 23:10). Probably because of these associations with fiery destruction and judgment, the word “Gehenna” came to be used metaphorically during the intertestamental period as a designation for hell or eternal damnation. Perhaps more than a place (the place of the dead is usually called “Hades” in the NT); it represents a state of judgment and punishment.

In Mark 9:48, Jesus states that in Gehenna, the “maggots never die and the fire never goes out.” Judith 16:17 gives a Jewish view of judgment as endless conscious torment, since the condemned weep forever. See also Sir 7:17, where fire and worms await the dead. Some argue that Mark’s image is of a fire that burns endlessly, not of a body that burns endlessly. Judith does not read that way. This is also clear in the non-canonical books from the intertestamental period which do appear to teach annihilation (1 Enoch 27:2; 54:1–6; 90:26–27; 4 Ezra 7:36–44,; see 4 Ezra 7:61)

You might have noticed that verse 44 and 46 are not included in the readings. It is not that the readings leave them out, but Mark 9:44 and 9:46 are part of a textual problem since many key manuscripts do not have them. The two verses read somewhat parallel v. 48. While their similarity might argue for them being original to Mark, the manuscript history (i.e., the verses not present in important copies) points to the more likely case that they were added by a later copyist.  Mark 9:48 is a modified citation of Isaiah 66:24 – and Mark is not one to excessively use words.

Image credit: The Exhortation to the Apostles | James Tissot | Brooklyn Museum | US-PD