In Christian scripture, Gehenna is the Greek term translated as “hell” in several New Testament passages about final punishment.
Gehenna derives from the Hebrew phrase Ge Hinnom, meaning the Valley of Hinnom, a valley near Jerusalem. In Jewish and Christian religious language, the place became associated with judgment because of biblical condemnations of rites connected with child sacrifice there.
The New Testament uses the Greek form Gehenna in sayings attributed to Jesus, especially in the Synoptic Gospels. English Bibles commonly translate it as “hell,” although the underlying term has a more specific historical and geographical origin.
Gehenna is not identical to every biblical word translated as hell. Hades usually refers to the realm of the dead, while Tartarus appears once in the New Testament in connection with rebellious angels. Later Christian theology often combined these images into broader doctrines of hell.