GEHEN'NA is the Greek form of the Hebrew ("Valley of Hinnom"), or ("Valley of the Son of Hinnom"). This valley, or rather gorge—for it is described as very narrow, with steep and rocky sides—lies s. and w. of the city of Jerusalem. Here Solomon built a high place for Molech (1 Kings xi. 7), and, in fact, Gehenna would appear to have become a favorite spot with the later Jewish kings for the celebration of idolatrous rites. It was here that Ahaz and Manasseh -made their children pass through the fire, "according to the abomination of the heathen:" and at its s.e. extremity, specifically designated Tophet (" place of burning"), the hideous practice of infant sacrifice to the fire-gods was not unknown (Jeremiah vii. 31). When king Josiah came forward as the restorer of the old and pure national faith, he " defiled " the Valley of Hinnom by covering it with human bones, and after this it appears to have become "the common cesspool of the city, into which its sewage was conducted, to be carried off .by the waters of the Kidron, as well as h laystali, where all
its solid filth was collected. Hence, it became a huge nest o.f insects, whose larvm or 'worms' fattened on the corruption." It is also said that fires were kept constantly burning here, to consume the bodies of criminals, the carcasses of animals, and what ever other offal might be combustible. Among the later Jews, Gehenna and Tophet came to be regarded as symbols of hell and torment, and in this sense the former word is frequently employed by our Savior in the New Testament. For example, in hark ix. 47, 48, he says: "It is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes, to be cast into hell-fire [Gehenna]; where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched."