Translation choice · disputed · Afterlife
What the source reads — kolasin aiōnion — aiōnios ('of an age, age-long') + kolasis ('corrective punishment, pruning')
What this version reads — 'everlasting punishment' — the KJV makes the sentence eternal and purely punitive
The Greek is contestable: aiōnios can mean 'eternal' or 'belonging to an age', and kolasis is corrective pruning, not bare retribution. The KJV takes the harshest reading — 'everlasting punishment' — welding hell shut forever. Universalist and annihilationist readers argue the words don't demand it. Disputed — but a whole doctrine of eternal torment rests on the translation of two words.
Read this chapter side by side — Matthew 25:46 →