In several of our Bible translations, there are four original language terms commonly rendered as “hell”…Sheol, Hádes, Tartaróo, Géhenna. This topic is about Gehenna.
The Greek term Gehenna occurs 12 times in the New Testament (NT). “Gehenna” is rendered “hell” in many (but not all) Bibles. “Hell” is more an interpretation, not actually a translation. Gehenna (Strongs g1067) occurs in: Mt.5:22, 29-30, 10:28, 18:9, 23:15, 33; Mk.9:43-47; Lk.12:5; Ja.3:6.
Gehenna was a location, a particular place. It’s a proper noun. As such, it is better left untranslated, as “Gehenna” (transliterated from the Greek Gé-en-na)…not rendered “hell”. For example, places such as Jericho, Silicon Valley, Milky Way, etc., aren’t translated in normal English usage. Young’s Literal Translation (YLT) is one that leaves the term Gehenna untranslated. Gehenna isn’t a common noun.
The term Gehenna came from the Old Testament (OT) valley of the son of Hinnóm, which occurs 13 times in the OT. The 13 OT occurrences of Hinnom (Strongs h2011, Hebrew noun) are: Jsh.15:8 (2), 18:16 (2); 2Ki.23:10; 2Ch.28:3, 33:6; Ne.11:30; Je.7:31-32, 19:2, 6, 32:35 (39:35 Septúagint/LXX). Hinnom means lamentation. Hinnom is Ennom in the OT Greek LXX.
Historians have located the steep Gehenna valley or ravine below the SW wall of ancient Jerusalem. It was in the territory allotted to the tribe of Judah (Jsh.15:1, 8), and converges with the Kidrón valley.
Jsh.15:8 is the earliest reference to this “valley of Hinnom”. 2Ch.28:1-3 Judah’s idolatrous king Aház sacrificed his sons there to the false god Molech! King Josiah desecrated the sacrificial site in 2Ki.23:10. “He defiled Tópheth [h8612 place of fire/burning] in the valley of the son of Hinnom.”
Traditionally, this ravine below Jerusalem later became a constantly burning rubbish heap. Vincent’s Word Studies Mt.5:22 “Ge-hinnom…it became the common refuse-place of the city, into which the bodies of criminals, carcasses of animals, and all sorts of filth were cast.”
And the valley also became a prophesied place of slaughter filled with human corpses.
Is.30:31-33 prophesied that the army of Assyrian King Sennacheríb under general Rabshakéh (Is.36:2) would camp at Topheth, as a funeral pyre site in the valley. Is.37:36 there 185,000 of them died!
After Josiah’s death, Judah returned to the heathen practice of human sacrifice in the Hinnom valley/Topheth. Therefore, Jeremiah prophesied it would become a place of future national judgment! Je.7:30-34 “The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘When it will no more be called Topheth, or the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of the Slaughter. For the Land will become a ruin.” The Lord would judge Judah and Jerusalem (v.34) with death & destruction for their detestable sacrifices.
The entire chapter of Je.19 is a prophecy about the valley of ben-Hinnom (son of Hinnom) or Gehenna, in more detail. The Lord declared in Je.19:7, “Judah and Jerusalem…in this place I shall cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies; and I shall give over their carcasses as food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth.” In the valley of ben-Hinnom, the valley of Slaughter (v.6).
Je.21:10 “For I [the Lord] will set My face against this city for harm….It will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire.” King Nebuchadnézzar burned Jerusalem in 586 BC. This fulfillment is seen in Je.52:12-15. The residue of the people were exiled to Babylon.
After Jews returned from Babylonian captivity, the last OT chronological reference to the valley of Hinnom is Ne.11:30. Some returning Jews encamped there.
There are 12 NT occurrences of the term Gehenna g1067. All but one occurrence is in the words of Jesus found in the gospel accounts (mostly in Matthew). The sole exception is Ja.3:6 (figurative).
The term Gehenna doesn’t appear in the book of Acts, nor in any of Paul’s letters, nor in other epistles (only once in James)! That may seem like a strange omission?! But Gehenna was traditionally the Jerusalem dump. It wouldn’t have the same significance in the foreign cities of the NT epistles.
John the Baptizer prophesied of unquenched fire in Mt.3:11-12, mixing in figurative language. “He [Jesus] will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” The Greek for unquenchable fire was ásbestos pur (g762 g4442). The wheat and chaff represent people. John was speaking to residents of Jerusalem/Judea (v.4-5). In OT language, unquenched fire related to God’s judgment! This was an analogy known to listeners of John & Jesus in the Holy Land. Following are verses about unquenched fire from the OT:
Is.34:5, 9-10 “Judgment upon Edom, a people that I [the Lord] have devoted to destruction….Its land shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched, night or day. Its smoke shall go up forever.” Unquenched fire was part of God’s judgment upon the land of Edom in 583 BC. (It wasn’t ever-burning hell-fire torment!) Pulpit Commentary Is.34:10 “There was a literal fulfillment of the prophecies against Edom….”
Amos prophesied to Israel with warnings ca 750 BC. Am.5:6 KJV “Seek the Lord that you may live, lest He break forth like a fire in the house of Joseph [the northern kingdom of Israel, v.1], and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Bethél.” Unquenched fire in Israel. Benson Commentary Am.5:6 “All your idols in Bethel shall not be able to quench it…or save them from God’s judgments.”
Ezk.20:47-48 “Say to the forest of the Négev: Thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, I Am going to kindle a fire in you…the blazing flame shall not be quenched, and the whole surface from north to south will be burned by it. All flesh shall see…it shall not be quenched.” Unquenched fire in the Negev, a large arid region in southern Judah. Matthew Poole Commentary Ezk.20:47 “The Chaldean forces…it will be a raging and swift fire. All means that can be used will not avail to quench this fire, till it has burnt up all.” Judeans remaining alive were taken captive to Chaldea/Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar.
Je.7:17, 20 “Do you see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem? Thus says the Lord God, ‘My anger and wrath will be poured out on this place, on man and beast…it will burn and not be quenched. (also ref v.32, quoted previously.) Je.17:27b “I [the Lord] shall kindle a fire in its gates, and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem and not be quenched.” Unquenched fire. This was the background for Jesus’ warnings for Judah & Jerusalem in the book of Matthew!
Isaiah also prophesied of fire unquenched. Is.66:24 “Then they shall gaze upon the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me [the Lord]. For their worm shall not die and their fire shall not be quenched.” Human corpses (not spirits) were linked to unquenched fire. Barnes Notes Is.66:24 “The Hebrew word (tolá) refers to the worms [maggots] which are generated in such corrupting bodies.” Cambridge Bible “Some place in the vicinity of Jerusalem, no doubt the valley of Hinnom.” The passage refers to putrefying human carcasses, physical flesh. And it’s also interpreted as imagery.
Jesus spoke of unquenched fire in the passage of Mk.9:43-48, tying Mk.9:48 to Is.66:24. (Mk.9:44, 46 aren’t found in the best ancient manuscripts, cf. Mt.18:8-9.) Mk.9:47-48 YLT “It is better for you one-eyed to enter the reign [kingdom] of God, than having two eyes be cast into the gehenna of the fire, where their worm is not dying and the fire is not being quenched.” Jesus’ disciples knew the location of the Gehenna ravine by Jerusalem. Mk.9:43-48 also relates to Je.7:20, 32.
Then in 70 AD, Titus’ Roman army came and starved/burned Jerusalem; there were myriads of corpses in valleys! Josephus Wars of the Jews 5:7:3-4 “Jews cast them down from the walls into the valleys beneath. Titus saw the valleys full of dead bodies.” Je.7:32 was fulfilled in both 586 BC and 70 AD.
Later, Eusébius (263–339 AD) Ecclesiastical History 6:41:15 described the martyrdom of Christians in Alexandria, Egypt. “They were carried on camels through the city, scourged, and finally consumed in unquenchable fire [asbestos puri].” (Everlasting torment in hell-fire wasn’t meant!) This is the same two Greek terms for “unquenchable fire”, asbestos puri, found in Mt.3:12 (and Lk.3:17). R. Tennant Shaw Day Thoughts on the New Testament “Christians at Alexandria…were scourged and burned in unquenchable fire. The fire burned until it consumed the victims.” Fire goes out when all combustible matter is consumed or burned up.
Again, the term Gehenna occurs 12 times in the NT, 11 of which are the words of Jesus.
Jesus told His disciples in Mt.10:28 YLT, “Be not afraid of those killing the body, and are not able to kill [g615] the soul [g5590 psuché], but rather fear Him who is able both soul [g5590] and body to destroy [g622] in gehenna”. Lk.12:4-5 is a parallel passage. Robertson’s NT Word Pictures Lk.12:5 “Gehenna, valley of Hinnom…was a place of all kinds of refuse which burned ceaselessly and became a symbol of punishment in the other world.” Gehenna as imagery.
However, in scripture, both God and humans killed souls (g5590 psuche)! The soul/life (g5590) is in the blood. Le.17:11 LXX “The soul/life [g5590] of flesh is its blood.” (also ref Ge.9:4, De.12:23.) The Lord stated in Le.23:30 LXX, “Every soul [g5590] which shall do work on that day [of Atonement], that soul [g5590] shall be destroyed [g622] from among its people”. The Lord destroyed souls. Ja.4:12 “There is one Lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy [g622].” God declared in De.32:39 LXX, “I kill [g615], and I shall make alive”. The Lord destroys and kills (souls).
A woman said in 2Sm.14:7 LXX, “Give up the one that smote his brother, and we will put him to death for the soul [g5590] of his brother, whom he killed [g615].” A man (not God) killed this soul! Also Elijah complained to the Lord in 1Ki.19:10 LXX, “I have been very zealous for the Lord Almighty, for the children of Israel…have killed [g615] Thy prophets with the sword, and I only am left, and they seek my soul [g5590] to take it.” They wanted to kill Elijah’s soul, residing in his lifeblood.
Mt.2:16 King Herod the Great killed all the male children of Bethlehem in their second year and under. The child Jesus wasn’t there; He was in Egypt. Later, an angel instructed Joseph in Egypt in Mt.2:20. “Arise and take the Child [Jesus]…into the land of Israel; for those who sought the Child’s soul [g5590] are dead.” Herod the Great, who’d wanted to kill the soul of the infant Jesus, had died.
So both the Lord and humans killed souls in the OT. Matthew too indicated in Mt.2:16-20 that humans can kill souls [g5590]. Therefore it is difficult to interpret Matthew’s account of the Lord’s implication later in Mt.10:28 as…humans are unable to kill souls [g5590]! It’d be contradictory or inconsistent.
Rather, it seems Jesus was relating the Mt.10:28 “fear Him who is able both soul and body to destroy” to the Is.10:18 (ESV). “The glory of his forest and of his fruitful land the Lord will destroy, both soul and body”. The expression “both soul and body” indicated a total destruction. Sennacherib’s army would be wiped out. (see Is.37:36-37.) Gill Exposition Is.10:18 “The Assyrian army is compared to a ‘forest’, for the large number of men in it.” Pulpit Commentary Is.10:18 “Isaiah shows that he is speaking of the Assyrian people, not of the land or its products. Their destruction….” Steve Gregg All You Want To Know About Hell, p.94 “The destruction of ‘both soul and body’ is elsewhere used as an idiom simply meaning ‘to destroy thoroughly’, without reference to a post-mortem fate. We find this precedent in Isa.10:18.” It wasn’t a fate of eternal hell-fire conscious torment.
Lk.12:4-5-ff is parallel to Mt.10:28. Jesus continued in Lk.12:49, “I’ve come to cast fire upon the earth [Land]”. Again, John the Baptizer also had told the opposing Pharisees & Sadducees in Mt.3:12 that “He [Jesus] will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire”.
Unquenchable fire against nations was OT language known by those Jews; it related to God’s judgment of peoples. Ellicott Commentary Lk.12:49 “The fire which He [Jesus] came to send is the fire of judgment upon the chaff.” Peter Pett Lk.12:49 “By these words He [Jesus] is declaring God’s judgment upon the Jewish people…because of their rejection of Him and His message.” LifeMessenger: Fire on the Earth “The fire that was about to fall on the ‘earth’ (literally land, alluding to Israel as the Promised Land) was the fall of Jerusalem…in 70 AD, a mere 40 years on.” Titus burned Jerusalem & the temple.
Again, Gehenna fire is also used as imagery. This topic is continued and concluded in “Gehenna (2) – Lake of Fire.”
Bible Topic Exposition 