And if thy right eye scandalize thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee. For it is expedient for thee that one of thy members should perish, rather than that thy whole body be cast into hell.
Francis Patrick Kenrick
Infra xviii. 9 ; Mark ix. 46. Bloomfield remarks that the right eye was specially necessary for the purposes of war, as formerly carried on. St. Chr}^sostom observes : " If Christ meant to speak about the meml)ers of the body, He would not have made mention of one eye only, or of one hand, but of both : for it is manifest that he, who suffers scandal from the right, will also suffer it from the left. Why then did He mention the right eye and afterwards the hand 1 That you may understand that He does not speak of the members of the body, but of those who are intimate- ly connected with us. If you love any one, He says, to such a degree as to consider him like your right eye, if you think that he is useful to you as your right hand, and he injure your soul, cut him off." ^The Greek term means to put a stumbling-block in the way so as to cause persons to trip, or fall. It is found in this sense in Judith v. 1. Its metaphorical meaning here is to occasion spiritual ruin, since it is used in connexion with lascivious gazing, and with adulterous disposition.
Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.