Matthew 5:30 is the thirtieth verse of the fifth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew

Gospel of Matthew

The Gospel According to Matthew is one of the four canonical gospels, one of the three synoptic gospels, and the first book of the New Testament. It tells of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth...

 in the New Testament

New Testament

The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....

 and is part of the Sermon on the Mount

Sermon on the Mount

The Sermon on the Mount is a collection of sayings and teachings of Jesus, which emphasizes his moral teaching found in the Gospel of Matthew...

. Part of the section on adultery

Adultery

Adultery is sexual infidelity to one's spouse, and is a form of extramarital sex. It originally referred only to sex between a woman who was married and a person other than her spouse. Even in cases of separation from one's spouse, an extramarital affair is still considered adultery.Adultery is...

, it is very similar to the previous verse, but with the hand

Hand

A hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered extremity located at the end of an arm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs...

 mentioned instead of the eye

Human eye

The human eye is an organ which reacts to light for several purposes. As a conscious sense organ, the eye allows vision. Rod and cone cells in the retina allow conscious light perception and vision including color differentiation and the perception of depth...

. For a discussion of the radicalism of these verses see Matthew 5:29

Matthew 5:29

Matthew 5:29 is the twenty-ninth verse of the fifth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament and is part of the Sermon on the Mount. It is the third verse of the discussion of adultery...

. Jesus

Jesus

Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...

 had stated that looking at a woman

Woman

A woman , pl: women is a female human. The term woman is usually reserved for an adult, with the term girl being the usual term for a female child or adolescent...

 in lust

Lust

Lust is an emotional force that is directly associated with the thinking or fantasizing about one's desire, usually in a sexual way.-Etymology:The word lust is phonetically similar to the ancient Roman lustrum, which literally meant "purification"...

 is equal to the act of adultery itself and in this verse he recommends cutting off one's hand to prevent sin

Sin

In religion, sin is the violation or deviation of an eternal divine law or standard. The term sin may also refer to the state of having committed such a violation. Christians believe the moral code of conduct is decreed by God In religion, sin (also called peccancy) is the violation or deviation...

ning.

In the King James Version of the Bible the text reads:

And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, 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.

The World English Bible

World English Bible

The World English Bible is a public domain translation of the Bible that is currently in draft form. Work on the World English Bible began in 1997 and was known as the American Standard Version 1997...

 translates the passage as:

If your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off,

and throw it away from you. For it is more profitable

for you that one of your members should perish, than

for your whole body to be cast into Gehenna.

For a collection of other versions see BibRef Matthew 5:30

The link between the right hand and the discussion of adultery is somewhat unclear. In Jewish writings of the time it was common to have a foot, hand, eye triple structure. This full triple structure is seen in the similar discussions at Mark 9:43-47, and a version much closer to that in Mark appears at Matthew 18:8-9. Jesus here uses two thirds of the structure, the first reference to the eye is clearly linked to his previous statement that looking at a woman lustfully is sinful, but it is uncertain why he continues to the hand when he specifically stated that action and touching is not required for sin. Hill feels that this might be related to theft

Theft

In common usage, theft is the illegal taking of another person's property without that person's permission or consent. The word is also used as an informal shorthand term for some crimes against property, such as burglary, embezzlement, larceny, looting, robbery, shoplifting and fraud...

. At the time the law saw adultery as a form of theft, as it was taking another man's wife. The right hand, the more active of the two among most of the population, had long been metaphorically associated with theft. An alternate view, that has been adopted by some in recent years, is that the mention of a hand linked to lust is a reference to masturbation

Masturbation

Masturbation refers to sexual stimulation of a person's own genitals, usually to the point of orgasm. The stimulation can be performed manually, by use of objects or tools, or by some combination of these methods. Masturbation is a common form of autoeroticism...

. In the New Testament this is the verse most often cited to condemn that practice. A third view is to see this verse connected less to the previous verses, and more as part of the discussion of divorce

Divorce

Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...

that takes up the next two verses. This argument states that the cutting off of the sinful hand is a metaphor for separation from a sinful spouse, even if it causes great pain.