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Gehenna (γέεννα, geenna). The Greek word for “hell” used in the New Testament. A transliteration of “Valley of Hinnom” (גֵּי הִנֹּם, gey hinnom), a boundary marker between Judah and Benjamin (Josh 15:8; 18:16). Jeremiah began to associate the place-name with God’s divine wrath and judgment (Jer 7:32, 19:6) because Kings Ahaz and Manasseh began sacrificing their children to Molech there (2 Kgs 16:3, 21:6).
The term “Gehenna” is primarily used in the Synoptic Gospels as a symbol of future eschatological judgment (Matt 23:33). The term is almost always used by Jesus Himself (except in Jas 3:6), and bears the sense of a place of physical and spiritual torment and destruction (Matt 5:29–30, Jas 3:6; Matt 10:28; Luke 12:5).
The Gospel writers based their usage on Jeremiah’s reinterpretation of the sacrifices in the Hinnom Valley and Isaiah’s final prophecy of the undying worm and unquenchable fire (Isa 66:24; compare Mark 9:48).
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