HELL

Three different Greek words are rendered "hell" in the King James translation of the Bible. (a) Hades is found ten times in the Greek N.T.; nine times it is rendered "hell," once "grave" in the KJV. "Hell" is not a good rendition; it leaves a woefully faulty impression. Hades is the place of departed spirits for that period of time between death and the resurrection. SeeHADES. (b) Once tartarus is translated as "hell" (2 Pet. 2:4). In this text the term denotes the place of punishment for rebellious angels, and may be the designation for the place in Hades where the wicked reside in general -- until the day of judgment. (c) The most common word for "hell" is gehenna (twelve times in the N.T., eleven of these in the Synoptics). The word is a transliteration of an O.T. term meaning "valley of Hinnom" (2 Kgs. 23:10). This was the place, in the dark days of Israel, where children were sacrificed to the god Molech, hence, it was a region of suffering and weeping (2 Kg. 16:3; 21:6; Jer. 7:32; 19:6). Later, it also became the city dump, where the burning was continuous. The word was adopted as a symbol for the eternal, conscious punishment of the wicked, both in body and soul (Mt. 10:28), following the judgment.