Isaiah 66:24 · Bible study
Isaiah 66:24 Commentary: Gehenna, Worm & Fire in God's Final Judgment
Hebrew · 9 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
Isaiah 66:24 graphic worm and fire imagery: does it describe eternal hell (Mark 9) or a temporal judgment? Explore the meaning with experts.
Research Summary
- Meaning: The verse depicts the final, irreversible judgment of God’s rebels, using the perpetual worm and fire of Gehenna to symbolize endless ruin and public shame.
- Key words: worm (תּוֹלָע tola’at), not dying; fire (אֵשׁ esh), not quenched; abhorrence (דֵרָאוֹן dera’on), only here and Daniel 12:2.
- Main debate: Does the verse teach eternal conscious torment (as many tradition) or a metaphorical annihilation/perpetual shame (minority reading)?
- Theological theme: God’s justice is final and public; the contrast between the saved worshipping in the new Jerusalem and the rebels in Gehenna underscores the urgency of repentance and the holiness of God.
- Best use: Warning text, used in teaching on hell, judgment, and the seriousness of sin, always alongside the gospel invitation.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
“As they go forth, they will see the corpses of the men who have rebelled against Me; for their worm will never die, their fire will never be quenched, and they will be a horror to all mankind.”
WEB World English Bible 2000
“They will go out, and look at the dead bodies of the men who have transgressed against me; for their worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.”
KJV King James Version 1769
And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
And they shall go forth, and look upon the dead bodies of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
And they have gone forth, And looked on the carcases of the men Who are transgressing against me, For their worm dieth not, And their fire is not quenched, And they have been an abhorrence to all flesh!
Darby Darby Bible 1890
And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorrence unto all flesh.
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
And they shall go out, and see the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me: their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched: and they shall be a loathsome sight to all flesh.
Translations in other languages (10 available)
Y saldrán, y verán los cadáveres de los hombres que se rebelaron contra mí: porque su gusano nunca morirá, ni su fuego se apagará; y serán abominables á toda carne.
E sairão, e verão os cadáveres dos homens que se rebelaram contra mim; porque o verme deles nunca morrerá, nem seu fogo se apagará; e serão horríveis a todos.
Et quand on sortira, on verra
Und sie werden hinausgehen und schauen die Leichname der Leute, die an mir übel gehandelt haben; denn ihr Wurm wird nicht sterben, und ihr Feuer nicht verlöschen, und werden allem Fleisch ein Greuel sein.
En zij zullen henen uitgaan, en zij zullen de dode lichamen der lieden zien, die tegen Mij overtreden hebben; want hun worm zal niet sterven, en hun vuur zal niet uitgeblust worden, en zij zullen allen vlees een afgrijzing wezen.
E quando gli adoratori usciranno, verranno i cadaveri degli uomini che si son ribellati a me; poiché il loro verme non morrà, e il fuoco non si estinguerà; e saranno in orrore ad ogni carne.
I wynijdą a oglądają trupy ludzi tych, którzy wystąpili przeciwko mnie; albowiem robak ich nie zdechnie, a ogień ich nie zgaśnie, a będą obrzydliwością wszelkiemu ciału.
И будут выходить и увидят трупы людей, отступивших от Меня: ибо червь их не умрет, и огонь их не угаснет; и будут они мерзостью для всякой плоти.
他們必出去 觀看 那些違背 我 人 的屍首；因為 他們的蟲 是不 死的；他們的火 是不 滅的；凡 有血氣 的都必 憎惡他們。
And they will go out to see the dead bodies of the men who have done evil against me: for their worm will ever be living, and their fire will never be put out, and they will be a thing of fear to all flesh.
Verse in Context
Original Language (Biblical Hebrew)
Old Testament · Biblical Hebrew · Isaiah 66:24
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators across traditions agree that Isaiah 66:24 draws directly on the Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna) as its physical backdrop. Adam Clarke notes that the place was where idolatrous Jews sacrificed children to Molech, later defiled by Josiah and used as a refuse dump with perpetual fires. Barnes emphasizes that the image is “evidently taken from the condition of unburied bodies” on a battlefield. Keil and Delitzsch argue the description “precludes the possibility of our conceiving of the thing… as realized in any material form in this present state” and insists the prophet speaks of the future state using figures from this life. Cambridge Bible identifies the scene as the basis for the later Jewish conception of Gehinnom as the place of everlasting punishment. All agree that Jesus directly applies the verse to final judgment in Mark 9:44, 46, 48. The worm that never dies and fire never quenched together signify a judgment that is permanent, not remedied, and publicly visible. Yet commentators differ on whether the verse itself teaches conscious eternal torment (so Barnes, Gill) or uses hyperbole to depict total ruin and abhorrence (a minority view, reflected in the ambiguity of the corpses, are they suffering or simply decaying?). The core consensus: the judgment is final, irreversible, and horrifying.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Medium
Main views:
- Eternal conscious torment (traditional hell): Jesus’ direct use in Mark 9; the language of ‘never die/never quenched’ implies endless suffering; Jewish tradition of Gehenna as a place of purification/torment; supported by Barnes, Gill, Matthew Henry.
- Annihilationism or total destruction with perpetual shame: The text describes corpses (dead bodies), not living beings in torment; the worm and fire consume the bodies; the focus is on the abhorrence and shame, not on continued consciousness; this reading finds support in some modern interpreters and a few early Jewish sources.
What is clear: The verse portrays a final, irreversible judgment from God where the wicked suffer complete ruin and remain as a perpetual public display of God’s justice and victory over evil.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Gehenna as historical valley vs. symbol of hell | The Valley of Hinnom is the geographic and historical background. Josiah desecrated it; it became a refuse dump with fires. | Some interpret the scene strictly as a temporal judgment on Jerusalem’s enemies (e.g., Gog’s army) with corpses left to rot; others argue the language transcends history and points to eternal punishment, as Jesus used it in Mark 9. |
| Worm and fire: literal perpetual process vs. metaphor for conscious torment | Both images indicate a permanent, irreversible judgment that cannot be undone or escaped. | Traditional Christian theology (Barnes, Gill) reads this as unending conscious punishment, the suffering soul is like a body preyed on by undying worm and unquenched fire. Other interpreters (e.g., Keil & Delitzsch, pulling from Jewish thought) see the passage as poetically stressing the never-ending shame and destruction, leaving open whether the dead are aware of the pain. |
| The identity of the worshippers who 'go forth' | They are the redeemed from all nations who come to worship every Sabbath and new moon (Isaiah 66:23). | Whether this is a literal future scene on a renewed earth (millennial view or new earth) or a symbolic vision of the new heavens and new earth seen from a heavenly perspective. |
Historical & Cultural Context
This verse closes the book of Isaiah and is set within the final chapters describing a restored Jerusalem after judgment (Isaiah 66:10-24). Immediately before, the prophet announces a new heavens and new earth (66:22) where “all flesh will come to worship before me” (66:23). The worshippers then “go forth” from the holy city to view the aftermath of God’s judgment. The location is almost certainly the Valley of Hinnom (Hebrew: ge Hinnom, which becomes “Gehenna”). Historically, this valley south of Jerusalem was notorious for the Molech cult, where children were burned alive (2 Kings 23:10; 2 Chronicles 28:3). King Josiah desecrated the site by filling it with human bones to end the practice. By the time of Isaiah, and even more in the intertestamental period, it became the city’s garbage dump where refuse and animal carcasses were burned continuously to control stench and disease. Barnes describes the “extreme loathsomeness of the place, the filth and putrefaction, the corruption of the atmosphere, and the lurid fires blazing by day and by night.” The Hebrew word for “worm” (tola’at) is the same used in Isaiah 14:11 for maggots on the king of Babylon; the “fire” recalls the theophanic judgment of 66:15-16 where the Lord comes “with fire… to render his anger with fury.” The worm that does not die and fire not quenched depict a perpetual decomposition that never reaches an end, an “abhorrence” (dera’on, a word used only here and Daniel 12:2 for “everlasting contempt”). This is not a brief punishment but an eternal witness to God’s justice.
Textual Notes
The supplied sources note no significant textual variants for Isaiah 66:24. The Hebrew text is stable across manuscripts. The Greek Septuagint renders the verse similarly, though it uses βδέλυγμα (“abomination”) for dera’on. The passage was treated carefully by scribes due to its prominent use in discussions of final judgment.
Reception History
Isaiah 66:24 became foundational for Jewish and Christian doctrines of Gehenna and hell. In the intertestamental period, the apocryphal books of Judith (16:17) and Wisdom of Solomon (7:17) echo its language to describe divine vengeance. The New Testament most famously cites it: Jesus quotes “their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched” three times in Mark 9:44, 46, 48, applying it to the punishment of the unrighteous in Gehenna. The Talmudic theology (as noted by Cambridge Bible) located the mouth of hell in the Valley of Hinnom. Early church fathers like Augustine used this verse to argue for the eternity of hell’s torments (City of God 21.9). Protestant reformers (Luther, Calvin) read it as a sobering warning. Modern interpreters vary, but the verse remains central to debates over the nature of final punishment.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- The Final Scene: God’s redeemed people go out from the new Jerusalem to see the utter defeat of everyone who rebelled against Him. This is not a private judgment but a public vindication of God’s holiness.
- The Unending Effects: The worm and fire that do not die or go out symbolize a judgment that cannot be reversed, exhausted, or cleansed. It is a state of perpetual ruin.
- The Warning and the Hope: This verse is the last warning in Isaiah’s prophecy. It calls hearers to repentance while the door of grace remains open. At the same time, it assures the faithful that evil will not have the last word.
Five-point outline
- Who goes out: The worshippers of the new creation (66:23).
- What they see: “Corpses of the men who have transgressed against me.”
- Why the judgment lasts: The worm does not die, the fire is not quenched.
- How it feels: “An abhorrence to all flesh”, the ultimate shame and disgust.
- How it fits the whole Bible: From Genesis 3 to Revelation 20, God’s judgment on rebellion is final. But this verse also pushes us to the cross, where God’s justice and mercy meet.
Illustration hooks
- A battlefield aftermath: Imagine a victorious army walking through a field strewn with enemy dead, left unburied for months. The sight, the stench, the decay. The image is visceral and designed to shock.
- A landfill that never stops burning: In some places, underground fires in garbage dumps smolder for decades. Applied to the Valley of Hinnom, the perpetual fire was a familiar reality.
- A single choice, permanent consequences: A person’s decision to breed fire ants in their yard ends only when the entire property is treated or the ants find no food. Sin, left unrepented, has consequences that persist beyond human life.
Questions your congregation is asking
- Does this verse mean God will torture people forever, or is it symbolic of total destruction and shame?
- How can a loving God create a punishment that never ends? (This must be handled with pastoral humility, not an easy answer.)
- What about those who never heard of Jesus, does this apply to them too? (Refer to Romans 2:12-16 and the universal call to repentance.)
Leading a Discussion
This verse challenges us. It uses the most repulsive images from a real place to teach us about God’s final verdict on evil. As you discuss, remember that the same book of Isaiah (1:18) invites: “Come now, and let us reason together… though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” Keep the cross in view.
Discussion questions
- Read Isaiah 66:22-24. What do the worshippers see, and where are they?
- The Hebrew word for “abhorrence” (dera’on) appears only here and in Daniel 12:2 (“everlasting contempt”). How does this strengthen the idea of a permanent judgment?
- Why do you think the worm and fire are described as never dying or being quenched? What does that communicate about the nature of the judgment?
- Jesus quotes this verse in Mark 9:43-48. How does that shape our understanding of hell for Christians today?
- Some argue the verse describes a historical scene of defeated armies left to rot; others see a vision of the eternal state. What evidence in the text supports each view?
- How does the promise of “new heavens and new earth” (66:22) and worship from “all flesh” (66:23) balance the severity of this verse?
- If this is the last verse of Isaiah, what takeaway does the prophet leave for the reader? How does it call us to respond? (Think about repentance, urgency, and trust in God’s justice.)
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Psalms 58:10 | The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance. He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked, |
| Psalms 58:11 | so that men shall say, “Most certainly there is a reward for the righteous. Most certainly there is a God who judges the earth.” |
| Isaiah 1:31 | The strong will be like tinder, and his work like a spark. They will both burn together, and no one will quench them.” |
| Isaiah 14:11 | Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, with the sound of your stringed instruments. Maggots are spread out under you, and worms cover you. |
| Isaiah 34:10 | It won’t be quenched night or day. Its smoke will go up forever. From generation to generation, it will lie waste. No one will pass through it forever and ever. |
| Isaiah 65:15 | You will leave your name for a curse to my chosen, and the Lord Yahweh will kill you. He will call his servants by another name, |
| Isaiah 66:16 | For Yahweh will execute judgment by fire and by his sword on all flesh; and those slain by Yahweh will be many. |
| Ezekiel 39:9 | “‘“Those who dwell in the cities of Israel will go out and will make fires of the weapons and burn them, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the war clubs and the spears, and they will make fires with them for seven years; |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
Read the devotional page — prayer, application, and "for families"
What the Commentators Say
6 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Adam Clarke's Commentary Methodist/Wesleyan 1826
Clarke explains that Jesus drew the image of hell from the actual valley of Hinnom, a place defiled by child sacrifice and later used as a garbage dump where worms and fire consumed refuse. This familiar, horrifying scene gave Christ's hearers a tangible picture of eternal punishment, just as pleasant images like Abraham's bosom pictured heaven.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
The commentary notes that this passage likely draws on the Valley of Hinnom as an image, but it remains unclear whether it describes conscious torment or simply the spectacle of dead bodies as a perpetual witness to divine judgment. The writer also suggests these final verses may be a later appendix to the prophecy.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
The Geneva notes emphasize that the punishment of the wicked is unending, as both the worm and fire are perpetual. The righteous will behold this judgment, and it will serve as a constant warning and confirmation of God’s justice.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill identifies the "they" who go forth as true worshippers leaving the church to witness the eternal punishment of the unrepentant. He stresses these are not literal corpses but souls in hell, perpetually rebelling, their worm undying and fire unquenched, while the righteous acknowledge God's just judgment on the wicked.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary Protestant 1871
JFB interprets the undying worm and unquenchable fire as a direct image of hell, drawn from the valley of Hinnom. He argues that the godly may look with satisfaction on God's final vengeance against the wicked, and that this is not inconsistent with true love. The commentary closes with a prayer for God's glory and the readers' edification.
Keil & Delitzsch OT Commentary Protestant 1876
Keil-Delitzsch insist that the prophet's