Passage

Isaiah 66.24

Book: Isaiah · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

22. For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith Jehovah, so shall your seed and your name remain. 23. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith Jehovah.

24. 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. (Isaiah 66:22-24, ASV)

WEB

22. “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me,” says Yahweh, “so your offspring and your name shall remain. 23. It shall happen that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh will come to worship before me,” says Yahweh.

24. “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.” (Isaiah 66:22-24, WEB)

KJV

22. For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain. 23. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD. ^{from one new: Heb. from new moon to his new moon, and from sabbath to his sabbath}

24. 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. (Isaiah 66:22-24, KJV)

YLT

22. For, as the new heavens and the new earth that I am making, Are standing before Me, An affirmation of Jehovah! So remain doth your seed and your name. 23. And it hath been from month to month, And from sabbath to sabbath, Come do all flesh to bow themselves before Me, Said Jehovah.

24. 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! (Isaiah 66:22-24, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: the LORD, through the prophet
Audience: the restored community; the book's closing verse
Location: Jerusalem
Time period: the later section of the book, addressed to a people in or facing exile; authorship of chapters 40 to 66 is disputed and is argued at Isaiah 7-14 Was Mistranslated Objection Defeater and in the wider treatment of the book

Theological reading

They shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me, for their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.

The book's final verse, and the source of the imagery Jesus uses of Gehenna at Mark 9:48, where the phrase is quoted directly.

The scene as Isaiah gives it is of corpses, outside, viewed by the worshippers going out from the new-moon and sabbath worship of the preceding verse. The worm and the fire act on dead bodies, which is the ground of the conditionalist argument that the imagery denotes complete destruction rather than conscious unending torment; the undying worm is the agent of consumption rather than the state of the consumed.

The traditional reading takes the unquenched fire and undying worm as marking the permanence of the punishment and reads the New Testament's development as making the state conscious. Both readings are argued from this verse; see Hell and Eternal Punishment and Conditional Immortality.

Jewish liturgical practice repeats verse 23 after 24 so the reading does not end on this note.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

H1320 - basar, basar, Strong's H1320
H4191 - mut, mut, Strong's H4191

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

OT vs NT God Objection Defeater

Concepts:

Lexicon:

G1067 - geenna

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.