Ge-hinnom

From BibleWiki

Name of the valley to the south and south-west of Jerusalem (Josh 15:8, Josh 13:16; Neh 11:30; 2Kg 23:10; 2Chr 33:6; Jer 7:31ff, Jer 19:2, Jer 32:35). Its modern name is "Wadi al-Rababah." The southwestern gate of the city, overlooking the valley, came to be known as "the gate of the valley." The valley was notorious for the worship of Moloch carried on there (comp. Jer 2:23). According to Jer 7:31ff, Jer 19:6ff, it was to be turned into a place of burial; hence "the accursed valley Ge-hinnom" ("Gehenna" in the N. T.) came to be synonymous with a place of punishment, and thus with hell (comp. Isa 66:24; Enoch, xxvi. et seq.; and the rabbinical Hebrew equivalent). See Gehenna; Paradise.