Key passage
Isaiah 66:15-24
The scene of corpses, undying worms and unquenched fire that Jesus quotes when he speaks of Gehenna.
The text
15For, behold, Yahweh will come with fire, and his chariots shall be like the whirlwind; to render his anger with fierceness, and his rebuke with flames of fire. 16For by fire will Yahweh execute judgment, and by his sword, on all flesh; and the slain of Yahweh shall be many. 17“Those who sanctify themselves and purify themselves to go to the gardens, behind one in the midst, eating pig’s flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, they shall come to an end together,” says Yahweh. 18“For I know their works and their thoughts: the time comes, that I will gather all nations and languages; and they shall come, and shall see my glory. 19“I will set a sign among them, and I will send such as escape of them to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the islands afar off, who have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the nations. 20They shall bring all your brothers out of all the nations for an offering to Yahweh, on horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and on mules, and on dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says Yahweh, as the children of Israel bring their offering in a clean vessel into Yahweh’s house. 21Of them also will I take for priests and for Levites,” says Yahweh. 22“For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me,” says Yahweh, “so your seed and your name shall remain. 23It shall happen, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me,” says Yahweh. 24“They shall go out, and look on the dead bodies of the men who have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they will be loathsome to all mankind.”
The immediate context
The closing oracle of Isaiah. The Lord comes in fire to judge all flesh, the nations are gathered to see his glory, and the book ends with worshippers going out to look at the corpses of those who rebelled against him.
Where it sits in the canon
Jesus quotes the last verse of this chapter in Mark 9:48. The source document also notes that the combination of flaming fire and vengeance in 2 Thessalonians 1:7-8 appears together elsewhere only at Isaiah 66:15, at the head of this same oracle. Jeremiah 7:32-33 uses comparable imagery of unburied bodies in the valley that gives Gehenna its name.
Why it matters
Because Mark 9:48 quotes verse 24 word for word, whatever this verse pictures is what Jesus brings with him into his warning about Gehenna. The whole dispute over the undying worm and the unquenchable fire starts here rather than in the Gospels.
How the passage is interpreted
The eternal conscious torment reading
Defenders of eternal conscious torment note that Isaiah sets the scene inside the new heavens and new earth of verses 22 and 23, where worship is continual. If in that setting the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched, the imagery is deliberately unending, and Jesus intensifies rather than softens it when he applies the words to Gehenna. On this reading the loathsome sight is a permanent condition, which requires something that permanently remains to be loathed.
The conditionalist reading
Conditionalists answer that the objects of the worm and the fire in verse 24 are dead bodies, not living people, and that both agents are described by their thoroughness rather than by their duration. A worm that does not die finishes eating, and a fire that is not quenched cannot be put out before it finishes burning. Ezekiel 20:47-48, Isaiah 1:31 and Jeremiah 4:4 use unquenchable fire for judgments that plainly completed their work.
Where the readings agree
- This is a real picture of divine judgment and not an image emptied of consequence.
- Verse 24 is the text Jesus quotes in Mark 9:48.
- The worm and the fire are unstoppable, in the sense that nothing interrupts them.
- Those in view are objects of lasting abhorrence to the redeemed.
Where the disagreement lies
Whether the undying worm and unquenched fire describe agents that never finish their work on the living, or agents that cannot be stopped until nothing of the dead remains.
Notes on the wording
- The Hebrew word rendered loathsome in verse 24 is the same word rendered contempt in Daniel 12:2.
- Unquenchable describes a fire that cannot be put out, which is a narrower claim than a fire that never goes out.
Fuller treatment of the Greek and Hebrew words behind these notes is in the glossary and language notes.
Editorial notes
- The source document argues that the redeemed go out to look on the bodies at one point rather than perpetually, since verse 23 places them at worship before the Lord.
Where this passage appears in the case
- S01 Mark 9: Undying Worms and Unquenchable FireWhat Isaiah 66:24 contributes to Jesus’ warning, and what "unquenchable" means everywhere else in Scripture.
- S04 What Does “Eternal Punishment” Mean?Why Matthew 25:46 pairs two permanent outcomes rather than two continuing activities, and what 2 Thessalonians 1:9 says the punishment is.
- S10 Can God Destroy Both Body and Soul?Matthew 10:28 in its own terms, the use of the verb elsewhere in the Synoptics, and a technical appendix on two-part and three-part anthropology.
Related passages
- Mark 9:42-48Jesus' warning about Gehenna, where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.
- Daniel 12:2The clearest Old Testament statement of a two-outcome resurrection: everlasting life or everlasting contempt.
- Matthew 10:28Jesus tells his disciples to fear the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.
- 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10Paul names the penalty imposed at the appearing of Christ as eternal destruction.
Sources consulted for this passage
- Phil Welch. My case for Conditional Immortality/Annihilation (CI) instead of Eternal Conscious Torment (ECT). Working document, revised through 2026. 2023-03-01 Details
- Chris Date. Their Worm Does Not Die: Annihilation and Mark 9:48. Rethinking Hell. 2012-07-17 View original of Their Worm Does Not Die: Annihilation and Mark 9:48 (opens in a new tab) Details
- Chris Date. The Fire Is Not Quenched: Annihilation and Mark 9:48, Part 2. Rethinking Hell. 2012-11-20 View original of The Fire Is Not Quenched: Annihilation and Mark 9:48, Part 2 (opens in a new tab) Details
- Joseph Dear. The Bible Teaches Annihilationism. 1st edition, PDF version. 2016. approximately 590 pages View original of The Bible Teaches Annihilationism (opens in a new tab) Details
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