Weeping & Gnashing of Teeth

The Lexham Figurative Language of the Bible Glossary:  Weeping and gnashing of teeth represents physical and spiritual torment in a place of judgment reserved for those who do not enter the kingdom of God.

Faith of the Centurion
Matthew 8:11-12 “I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, 12 while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Parable of the Net
Matthew 13:49-50 “So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous 50 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Parable of the Wedding Feast
Matthew 22:13 “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. 12 And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.”

A Wicked Servant
Matthew 24:48-51 “But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ 49 and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, 50 the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know 51 and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Parable Of The Talents
Matthew 25:24-30 “He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”

The Narrow Door
Luke 13:23-30 “And someone said to him, ‘Lord, will those who are saved be few?’ And he said to them, 24 ‘Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ 28 In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. 29 And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God. 30 And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.’”

Parable of the Weeds
Matthew 13:40-42 “Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, 42 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

¹ Like His Jewish contemporaries, Jesus often used the image of fire to describe hell.  Here are a couple of examples from Matthew 13.  As Jesus tells a parable about “wheat” and “weeds,” He says:

Matthew 13:30 “Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”

By itself, this verse says very little, but Jesus goes on to explain the parable and clarifies what He means by the burning weeds:

Matthew 13:40-43 “Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the close of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.”

These are terrifying statements that Jesus makes.  It’s difficult to stomach, but the image of “weeping” as the wicked are cast into hell (“the fiery furnace”) is common among first-century Jewish writers.  Jesus, again, fits right into His own context by using the image here.

Just a few verses later, Jesus says again:

Matthew 13:49-50 “So it will be at the close of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

The hell that Jesus describes here is not a hell-on-earth that accompanies our bad decisions during this life, and it certainly isn’t the never-ending party that AC/DC describes in their song. Hell is a place of punishment at the end of the age for “all law-breakers” who don’t follow Jesus in this life.

[I would also add here that Gehenna is a place of final separation from God, reserved for those who do not love Him, and do not have a love of the truth.  2 Thessalonians 2:9-10 “The coming of the lawless one will be accompanied by the working of Satan, with every kind of power, sign, and false wonder, 10 and with every wicked deception directed against those who are perishing, because they refused the love of the truth that would have saved them.”]

Again, Jesus said:

Matthew 18:8–9 “It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the [everlasting] fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell [Gehenna] of fire.”

These images of “everlasting fire” and a “hell of fire” were typical in the first century.  Jesus used this common vocabulary to convey an unmistakable message—no Jew would have scratched his head wondering what Jesus was getting at.  The everlasting fire of Gehenna is a place of punishment for all who don’t follow Jesus in this life.

Like other Jewish writers of His day, Jesus also used the image of “darkness” to describe hell.  In Matthew 8, He says:

Matthew 8:11-12 “I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

This passage is a critique against Jewish people who think that their ethnicity can solidify a place in the kingdom.  Strikingly, Jesus says that many Gentiles (those from “east and west”) will come into the kingdom, while many Jews (the “sons of the kingdom”) will not enter because they didn’t follow Jesus.  Jesus uses stock Jewish images of “outer darkness” and “weeping” to refer to judgment day and its consequences.  Nobody in Jesus’ first-century world would understand these images of darkness and weeping in any other way.

Jesus used the same imagery at the end of another parable He told just before He died:

Matthew 22:13 “Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”

And again, in another parable:

Matthew 25:30 “And cast out the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Darkness, weeping, and gnashing of teeth—these are common Jewish images for hell.  And again Jesus is referring to a place of punishment, much like His first-century contemporaries.  It’s also important to recognize that there is nothing in these passages that holds out hope for a second, third, or fourth chance for repentance after death.

¹ Francis Chan; Erasing Hell: What God Said about Eternity, and the Things We Made Up

Romans 10: 9-13 “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, 9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be put to shame.”