Reflect on the passage of Scripture below and then watch a few related resources. As you reflect, consider this question: What does Jesus mean by the word gehenna?
Matthew 5:21-26
Murder and Contempt
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Gehenna comes from the Hebrew phrase gey’-hinnom, a valley where Israel’s kings sacrificed children in fire to other gods. The prophets said these fires would turn back on the kings. And Jesus uses this image to describe God’s response to evil.
Chapter from Sermon on the Mount E10
The Biblical Background of Gehenna
Jeremiah prophesied that God would judge the Israelite kings who sacrificially burned children in the valley of gey’-hinnom, allowing their fires to turn back on them. Jesus is likely building on this imagery to describe God’s response to evil.
Most English Bibles translate Matthew 5:22 with the word “hell,” but the word used here is “gehenna,” which is a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew phrase gey’-hinnom. This refers to a valley in Jerusalem where two ancient Israelite kings sacrificed their children in fire to Canaanite gods (2 Chron. 28, 33). The prophet Jeremiah condemned this practice, promising that God would one day turn the kings’ violence back on them in the same valley. Jesus is likely building on Jeremiah’s imagery to describe God’s just response to evil.