Bart D. Ehrman: Heaven and Hell: A History of the Afterlife. Simon & Schuster, 2020.
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The valley is mentioned several times in the Old Testament, first in Joshua 15:8, where it is called "the valley of the son of Hinnom", which in Hebrew is gei ben Hinnom. We don't know who Hinnom was, but his son apparently owned the valley at one point. A later reference calls it instead Hinnom's own valley—that is, in gei-hinnom. Later, that term, gehinnom, came to be Gehenna. It is normally identified as the ravine southwest of Old Jerusalem.

— Bart D. Ehrman on Gehinnom

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "The valley is mentioned several times in the Old Testament, first in Joshua 15:8, where it is called "the valley of the son of Hinnom", which in Hebrew is gei ben Hinnom. We don't know who Hinnom was, but his son apparently owned the valley at one point. A later reference calls it instead Hinnom's own valley—that is, in gei-hinnom. Later, that term, gehinnom, came to be Gehenna. It is normally identified as the ravine southwest of Old Jerusalem." in the context of "Bart D. Ehrman: Heaven and Hell: A History of the Afterlife. Simon & Schuster, 2020." to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Gehinnom" (Quotes, Commentary) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Bart D. Ehrman

About Bart D. Ehrman

Bart D. Ehrman (born 5 October 1955) is an American New Testament scholar.