Anakalypsis / Unveiling the Word

Theme · eschatological

Hell and Gehenna

The Old Testament speaks of Sheol, the shadowy realm of the dead, without sharp moral distinction. Isaiah hints at something worse: the worm that does not die and the fire that is not quenched. By the intertestamental period, Gehenna — the Valley of Hinnom where children had been sacrificed — becomes a symbol of final punishment. Jesus speaks of Gehenna more than anyone else in Scripture, warning of outer darkness, weeping and gnashing of teeth, and fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Revelation describes the lake of fire as the 'second death,' the final separation from God for those not found in the book of life.

Passages expressing this theme

  • 2Pet 2:4 — For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;
  • 2Thess 1:9 — Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;
  • Dan 12:2 — And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
  • Deut 32:22 — For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.
  • Heb 10:27 — But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
  • Isa 14:15 — Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
  • Isa 66:24 — And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unt
  • Jude 1:7 — Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of ete
  • Matt 5:22 — But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but wh
  • Matt 5:29 — And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
  • Matt 7:13 — Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
  • Matt 10:28 — And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
  • Matt 13:42 — And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
  • Matt 13:50 — And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
  • Matt 18:9 — And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.
  • Matt 23:33 — Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
  • Matt 25:41 — Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
  • Matt 25:46 — And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
  • Ps 9:17 — The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.
  • Rev 14:10 — The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy
  • Rev 14:11 — And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
  • Rev 19:20 — And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These
  • Rev 20:10 — And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
  • Rev 20:14 — And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
  • Rev 20:15 — And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.