gehenna- (Hebrew > Greek > Latin: hell or hellfire).gehenna:
Hell, the place of future fiery torment for the dead. The word comes from "the Valley of Hinnom"; shortened from Ge Ben-Hinnom, "the Valley of the Son of Hinnom", a valley South West, and South of Jerusalem, where children were burnt in sacrifice to Baal or Molech [Moloch]. It came to be regarded as a place of unquenchable fire, possibly from the fires of Moloch.
Moloch [MOH luhk] or Molech (Hebrew, melech: king). He was the god of the Ammonites, to whom children were made "to pass through the fire" as sacrifices. Children were dedicated ("passed over") and burned to Molech at the Tophet in the Valley of Hinnom near Jerusalem. During the monarchical period of the Hebrews, the site was an infamous high place (called "topheth" and derived from an Aramaic word meaning "fireplace"), where some of the kings of Judah engaged in forbidden religious practices, including human sacrifice by fire; as mentioned earlier. Probably because of these associations with fiery destruction and judgment, the word "Gehenna" came to be used metaphorically as a designation for hell or eternal damnation. As such, Gehenna is to be distinguished from Hades, which is either the bode of all the dead in general or the place where the wicked await the final judgment. In the New Testament, Gehenna designates the place or state of the final punishment of the wicked. It is variously described as a fiery furnace, an unquenchable fire, or an eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. gehenne:
1. A hell, place of torment.
2. Judicial torture. gehennical:
Belonging to gehenna.
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