Where did "Gehenna" that Jesus spoke of come from?

Question

Was it Jewish in teaching ... and is it big in other religions?
Mt 5:22, 29; 10:28; 13:42, 50: Mk 9:43-48

Answer 1

G'day Giggly Giraffe,

Thank you for your question.

Gehenna' is a word tracing to Greek, ultimately from Hebrew: גי(א)-הינום Gêhinnôm (also Gei ben-Hinnom (Hebrew: גיא בן הינום) meaning the Valley of Hinnom. The valley, which forms the southern border of ancient Jerusalem, is first mentioned in Joshua 15:8. Originally it referred to a garbage dump in a deep narrow valley right outside the walls of Jerusalem (in modern-day Israel) where fires were kept burning to consume the refuse and keep down the stench. It is also the location where bodies of executed criminals, or individuals denied a proper burial, would be dumped. Today, "Gehenna" is often used as a synonym for Hell.

It is referred to in both Testaments. It is referred to several times in the Old Testament. It is mentioned in the Tanakh several places, notably 2 Chronicles 28:3; 33:6; 2 Kings 23:10; the southwestern gate of Jerusalem, overlooking the valley, came to be known as "The Gate of the Valley" (Hebrew: שער הגיא). Jeremiah 7:31; 19:2-6; 32:35; the Book of Jeremiah (2:23) speaks of Jerusalemites worshipping Moloch and committing abominations, foreshadowing the destruction of Jerusalem:

"19:2. And you shall go out to the Ben-Hinnom Valley which is at the entrance of the Harsith Gate, and you shall call there the words that I will speak to you. 19:3. And you shall say; Hearken to the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; so said the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel; Behold I am bringing evil upon this place, which whoever hears, his ears will tingle. 19:4. Because they forsook Me and they estranged this place and burnt incense therein to other gods, which they had not known, they, their forefathers, and the kings of Judah, and they filled this place with the blood of innocent people. 19:5. And they built the high places of Baal to burn their children with fire as burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command, neither did I speak nor did it enter My mind. 19:6. Therefore, behold days are coming, says the Lord, when this place will no longer be called Topheth or Ben-Hinnom Valley, but the Valley of Slaughter."

It is often mentioned in the New Testament of the Christian Bible as the place of condemnation of unrepentant sinners in, for example, the Sermon on the Mount.

In the Book of Matthew, 23:33, Jesus observes,

"Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?”
Jesus used the word gehenna, not hell, and his audience understood quite well that gehenna meant a place of condemnation, for in contemporary Jewish belief "gehenna" was a term for a transcendent (or subterranean) place of eternal punishment.

We note, the King James Bible (and other translations as well) speak of “hellfire” and of being “cast into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched." The original Greek scriptures of the New Testament actually used the word gehenna, which tended to become hell in English translation.

The word gehenna (Gehennem) also occurs in the Muslim holy book, the Qur'an, as a place of torment for sinners.

I have attached some sources for your reference.

Regards