Gehenna is the name given to a valley near Jerusalem, where at one time sacrifice was offered to the pagan god, Molech. It was later used as a place for the cremation of bodies, a fire being kept burning all the time for this purpose. Because of the abominations which took place in the time of King Ahaz, every form of pollution later found its way into this valley, and the name of Gehenna, which originally meant the valley of a man called Hinnom, became a byword for a place of punishment for the wicked after death.
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