Gehinnah

Gehinnah is a variant spelling used in some languages and translations for Gehenna, the term most scholars attribute to the biblical concept of a realm or state of punishment after death. The word originates from the Hebrew Ge-hinnom, literally “Valley of Hinnom,” a real valley outside ancient Jerusalem that acquired symbolic associations with danger, impurity, and punishment in later religious literature.

Etymology and historical context: Ge-hinnom is a geographical name that became a theological symbol in Jewish texts. In the Hebrew Bible the valley is linked to idolatrous practices, including child sacrifice, which helped attach it to notions of moral peril. Over time, Gehenna came to be used in rabbinic and later religious writings as a place or condition of punishment after death, rather than a current political location.

In Judaism, Gehinnah/Gehenna is often understood as a temporary or purgatorial state for most souls, with varied interpretations about its duration and outcome. Some later rabbinic authorities described a finite, corrective process, while other traditions allowed for more severe or even annihilative outcomes for certain offenses. The concept also influenced Christian views of hell, where Gehenna became a more prominent symbol of eternal punishment or separation from the divine.

In Islam, the standard term for the final place of punishment is Jahannam. Gehinnah is not the conventional Arabic term, though some translations or non-Arabic linguistic contexts may render the concept with a similar spelling. In modern usage, Gehinnah appears mainly in religious studies and comparative literature as an alternative transliteration of Gehenna.

See also Gehenna; Hell; Hades; Jahannam.