Mark 9:42

Jesus kept on teaching his followers. He said, “If a little kid trusts me, and if somebody gets that little kid to do something bad, God will properly punish that person. Suppose somebody gets a big stone and ties it to that person’s neck and throws them into the sea and drowns them, that is bad for that person, but it is not as bad as the trouble God will give them for getting that little kid to go wrong.

Plain English Version

In The King James Version

And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea.

In Context

41And listen, if somebody knows that you are my follower, and so they try to help you, even if they just give you a drink of water, God will be sure to pay that person with something good for that good thing they did.”

43Look, 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.

Read all of Mark 9

Cross References

Matthew 25:45And I will say to them, ‘Listen. You didn’t do anything to help my friends. They were not important people, but they were my people. Every time you said no to helping them, at that same time you were saying no to helping me.’

Acts 9:4He fell down on to the ground, and he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul. Saul. Why are you making trouble for me and hurting me?”

Romans 14:13So we have to stop being like judges. We have to stop telling each other, “You are wrong.” Instead of that, we have to make sure that we help other Christians, and make sure we don’t do anything that makes them go wrong.

Romans 16:17Listen, my Christian friends, I’m telling you straight, you’ve got to be really careful about people that make you split up and argue with each other. Remember that you heard the true message about Jesus Christ, and you learned to follow his way, but there are some people that want you to leave that way and go another way. They tell you a different story, and they get you to argue with each other. So don’t listen to them. Keep away from them.

1 Corinthians 10:32Don’t do anything that might give other people problems. Don’t make problems for Jewish people, or for people that are not Jewish. And don’t make problems for God’s people.

Matthew Henry on Mark 9:42-50

Pain to Be Preferred to Sin. 41 For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward. 42 And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea. 43 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… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Mark 9:42