In the NIV translation, Mark 9:46 contains no text — and this is intentional. Some older English translations, like the King James Version, include a verse here that repeats the phrase from verse 48: "where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched." However, biblical scholars determined that this repetition was likely added by a later copyist and was not part of Mark's original writing. The earliest and most reliable Greek manuscripts of the New Testament do not include it. Rather than silently removing the verse number, modern translations like the NIV leave a numbered gap so readers can see that a verse existed in older versions — a sign of honest, careful scholarship rather than something to be alarmed about.
God, thank you that truth doesn't need to be protected from honest questions. Give me the courage to hold my faith with open hands — trusting you even in the places I don't fully understand. Your word has endured centuries of scrutiny, and you are faithful still. Amen.
Most of us have never thought much about where the Bible actually comes from — written on papyrus and animal skins roughly two thousand years ago, hand-copied by scribes across centuries, translated and re-translated into hundreds of languages. It's easy to assume the Bible arrived perfectly intact, like a document downloaded from the sky. But it was carried through human hands, and those hands sometimes added a phrase, skipped a line, or — as seems to have happened here — copied the same sentence twice by accident. The fact that modern scholars flagged Mark 9:46 as a likely scribal repetition, and that translators were honest enough to leave the gap visible rather than smoothing it over, is actually a form of integrity worth trusting. The Bible has been examined more rigorously than any ancient document in history — and that scrutiny has deepened its credibility, not undermined it. You don't have to be afraid of honest questions about Scripture. Faith that can't survive a hard question probably wasn't standing on solid ground to begin with.
Before reading this, did you know that some Bible verses appear in certain translations but not others? How does learning that make you feel about the Bible as a whole?
Does knowing that scholars carefully examine ancient manuscripts to determine what was original strengthen or shake your confidence in Scripture — and why?
Some people feel that any textual uncertainty in the Bible undermines its authority entirely. How would you respond to that concern — and do you think it's a fair one?
How might your faith actually grow if you felt more free to ask honest, hard questions about Scripture rather than treating uncertainty as a threat to be avoided?
Is there a question about the Bible or about faith that you've been afraid to ask out loud? Who in your life could you bring that question to this week?