King James Bible
"And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell."
Jesus uses hyperbolic language to address anything that causes one to sin, with the right eye symbolizing something precious or dominant. The verb 'offend' (skandalizō) means to cause stumbling into sin, emphasizing that even valued things must not lead us away from God. This shocking command illustrates the radical action required to eliminate sin's influence—not literal mutilation, but decisive separation from whatever tempts us. The vivid imagery underscores that half-measures are insufficient when dealing with spiritual danger. Jesus frames this as a cost-benefit analysis: losing something temporal, even if valuable, is advantageous compared to spiritual destruction. The word 'profitable' emphasizes that this painful sacrifice ultimately serves one's true self-interest. The alternative to radical action is complete destruction in Gehenna, depicting eternal separation from God. This stark contrast between partial loss now versus total loss eternally drives home the urgency of dealing decisively with sin.