page_title: Gehenna
hierarchical_section_title: Gehenna
caption_attribution_description: English: en:Ge-Hinnom, c. 1900.
context_page_description: Gehenna or Gehinnom is thought to be a small valley in Jerusalem. In the Hebrew Bible, Gehenna was initially where some of the kings of Judah sacrificed their children by fire. Thereafter, it was deemed to be cursed.
  In rabbinic literature, Gehenna is also a destination of the wicked. Gehinnom is not Hell, but originally a grave and in later times a sort of purgatory where one is judged based on one's life's deeds, or rather, where one becomes fully aware of one's own shortcomings and negative actions during one's life. The Kabbalah explains it as a "waiting room" for all souls. The overwhelming majority of rabbinic thought maintains that people are not in Gehinnom forever; the longest that a Jew can be there is said to be 11 months, however there has been the occasional noted exception.
  This is different from the more neutral Sheol/Hades, the abode of the dead, although the King James Version of the Bible translates both with the Anglo-Saxon word hell.
  In the King James Version of the Bible, the term appears 13 times in 11 different verses as Valley of Hinnom, Valley of the son of Hinnom or Valley of the children of Hinnom.
context_section_description: Gehenna or Gehinnom (literally translated as "Valley of Hinnom") is thought to be a small valley in Jerusalem. In the Hebrew Bible, Gehenna was initially where some of the kings of Judah sacrificed their children by fire. Thereafter, it was deemed to be cursed (Book of Jeremiah 7:31, 19:2–6).
  In rabbinic literature, Gehenna is also a destination of the wicked. Gehinnom is not Hell, but originally a grave and in later times a sort of purgatory where one is judged based on one's life's deeds, or rather, where one becomes fully aware of one's own shortcomings and negative actions during one's life. The Kabbalah explains it as a "waiting room" (commonly translated as an "entry way") for all souls (not just the wicked). The overwhelming majority of rabbinic thought maintains that people are not in Gehinnom forever; the longest that a Jew can be there is said to be 11 months (unless he is a fully wicked person, in which case 12 months), however there has been the occasional noted exception.
  This is different from the more neutral Sheol/Hades, the abode of the dead, although the King James Version of the Bible translates both with the Anglo-Saxon word hell.
  In the King James Version of the Bible, the term appears 13 times in 11 different verses as Valley of Hinnom, Valley of the son of Hinnom or Valley of the children of Hinnom. The Valley of Hinnom is the modern name for the valley surrounding Jerusalem's Old City, including Mount Zion, from the west and south. It meets and merges with the Kidron Valley, the other principal valley around the Old City, near the southeastern corner of the city.
caption: Valley of Hinnom, c. 1900
exif: {}