Where the worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched.
All Commentaries on Mark 9:48 Go To Mark 9
Caesarius of Arles
AD 542
If today one is cast out of the assembly of this church because of some enormity, in how much grief and tribulation will his soul be? If it causes unbearable pain to be thrown out of this church, where the one who is rejected can eat and drink and speak with others and has the hope of being called back, how much more pain will there be if, because of his sins, one is separated from that church which is in heaven, and eternally separated from the assembly of the angels and the company of all the saints? For such a person it will not be enough punishment for him to be cast away, but in addition he will be shut out into the night, to be consumed by an eternal fire. One whose impenitent behavior has warranted his being finally shut out of that heavenly Jerusalem will not only be deprived of divine fellowship, but will also suffer the flames of hell, “where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth,” where there will be the wailing of lamentation without any remedy, where the worm does not die, and the fire is not extinguished; where death would be sought as an end to torment, and not found.
