In English Bibles, three different words are translated as “hell”: the Hebrew words Gehinnom and Sheol, and the Greek word Hades. The Hebrew word Gehinnom, means “Valley of Hinnom.” This narrow valley is located south and west of Jerusalem and runs into the Kidron Valley. During the time of Israel’s kings, this valley became the site of a worship place known as Topheth, which in Aramaic means “fireplace.” Some Israelites and their kings disobeyed God and worshiped the god Molech at this place. This worship of Molech included sacrificing children by throwing them into the fire and burning them to death (Lev 18:21; 20:2-5; Jer 32:35). For this terrible sin, the prophet Jeremiah said that this place would one day be known as Slaughter Valley (Jer 7:31,32; 19:6).

In the two hundred years before Jesus was born, some Jewish teachers said that the place where wicked people go when they die is like the burning Valley of Hinnom. The Greek word used to describe this place is Gehenna. Because the word Gehenna (hell) is always used in the New Testament to describe a place of fiery death and punishment, it has a different meaning than the Hebrew Sheol or the Greek Hades. These words refer to the dark place where all the dead go (Job 30:23; Ezek 31:16-18; Acts 2:27), or where the dead wait for God’s final judgment (Rev 20:13). Sheol (Hades) is a place somewhere under the earth that is totally silent and where no one knows or feels anything (Job 10:21,22; Ps 88:12; 94:17). Punishment and torture are not connected with Sheol.

In the New Testament, hell (Gehenna) is the place of judgment where God sends evildoers to face fiery torture and everlasting punishment (Matt 5:22; Luke 16:23,24; Rev 20:14,15). It is pictured as a flaming furnace (Matt 13:42,50), a fire that never goes out (Mark 9:43-44), a fiery lake (Rev 20:14,15), and an everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels (Matt 25:41). Jesus warned people that they might end up in hell for committing certain sins (Matt 23:13-15,29-33; Mark 9:45-48; Luke 12:5), and the book of James warns that the human tongue can be used to speak evil, setting a person’s entire life on fire with flames that come from hell (Jas 3:6).