G1067 — γέεννα (geenna)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: G1067
Original: γέεννα
Transliteration: geenna
Pronunciation: gheh'-en-nah
Part of Speech: Feminine noun
Root: Transliteration of Hebrew גֵּי (בֶן) הִנּוֹם — "valley of (the son of) Hinnom"
Occurrences: 12 in NT
First Occurrence: Matt 5:22 — "whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire"
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

Valley of (the son of) Hinnom; a ravine south of Jerusalem historically used for child sacrifice (2 Chr 28:3; 33:6) and later as a refuse dump with perpetually burning fires. Adopted in Second Temple Judaism and by Jesus as a term for the place of final fiery punishment for the wicked.

Louw-Nida Semantic Domain¶

Domain: 1 — Geographical Objects and Features
Subdomain: 1.19 — Regions Below the Surface of the Earth
Other words in domain: ἄβυσσος (G12), ᾅδης (G86), βάθος (G899), ζόφος (G2217), σκότος (G4655), ταρταρόω (G5020)

UBS Semantic Domains¶

[001] Geographical Objects and Features — search_relationships.py classifies γέεννα as a place-term, even though NT usage loads it with judicial and eschatological force.

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Count	%
hell	10	83.3%
of hell	2	16.7%

KJV renders geenna uniformly as "hell." The 2 "of hell" cases are genitive constructions: "child of hell" (Matt 23:15) and "set on fire of hell" (Jas 3:6).

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Abbrev	Count	Book Verses	Per 100
James	Jas	1	108	0.9
Matthew	Mat	7	1071	0.7
Mark	Mar	3	678	0.4
Luke	Luk	1	1151	0.1

Geenna is almost exclusively a word of Jesus — 11 of 12 occurrences are direct speech of Christ. Concentrated in the Synoptics; absent from John, Acts, Paul's letters, and Revelation (which uses "lake of fire" instead). James 3:6 is the sole non-Jesus occurrence.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Fiery Place of Destruction¶

Geenna is consistently associated with unquenchable fire — the dominant collocate is πῦρ (fire, 6x). The valley's perpetual burning provided the image.

Matt 5:22 — "whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire"
Matt 18:9 — "rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire"
Mark 9:43 — "it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched"
Mark 9:47 — "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"

2. Self-Denial to Escape It¶

Six of the 12 occurrences appear in sayings about cutting off an offending member — a hyperbolic call to radical self-denial. The pattern is: it is better to enter life diminished than to be cast whole into geenna.

Matt 5:29 — "it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell"
Matt 5:30 — "it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell"
Mark 9:45 — "it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched"

3. Destruction of Soul and Body¶

One saying specifies that geenna is where both soul and body are destroyed — the only NT text that directly associates geenna with the soul.

Matt 10:28 — "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"

4. God's Judicial Judgment¶

Geenna appears in contexts of formal condemnation — escaping or receiving the verdict of geenna.

Matt 23:33 — "how can ye escape the damnation of hell?"
Luke 12:5 — "Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him"

5. Moral Corruption (James)¶

James uses geenna metaphorically as the source and symbol of destructive, defiling power — the tongue is "set on fire of hell."

Jas 3:6 — "the tongue is a fire... it defileth the whole body... and it is set on fire of hell"

6. Character / Destiny Descriptor¶

Geenna can describe a person's final orientation or judgment identity.

Matt 23:15 — "when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves"

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-vv	Typical Pattern
πῦρ (fire)	G4442	6x	"hell fire" / "fire that never shall be quenched"
σκανδαλίζω (offend/cause to stumble)	G4624	6x	"if [member] offend thee... cast into geenna"
βάλλω (cast)	G906	5x	"cast [whole body] into hell"
ἔχω (have)	G2192	5x	contextual: "having two [members]"
εἰσέρχομαι (enter)	G1525	4x	"enter into life" as antithesis of geenna
καλός (better/good)	G2570	4x	"it is better for thee to enter into life..."
σῶμα (body)	G4983	4x	"whole body cast into hell"; "destroy soul and body"
δύο (two)	G1417	4x	"having two hands/feet/eyes" vs entering life maimed
ἀπόλλυμι (destroy)	G622	3x	"able to destroy both soul and body in hell"
ζωή (life)	G2222	3x	"enter into life" contrasted with geenna
μέλος (member/limb)	G3196	3x	body-part offending sayings
ὀφθαλμός (eye)	G3788	3x	"if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out"
ἄσβεστος (unquenchable)	G762	2x	"fire that never shall be quenched"
κρίσις (judgment/damnation)	G2920	2x	"damnation of hell" / judicial context

Word Family / Cognates¶

No Greek cognates — geenna is a transliteration, not a native Greek word. The underlying Hebrew toponym: - גֵּיא הִנּוֹם — Valley of Hinnom (Josh 15:8; 18:16; Neh 11:30) - גֵּי בֶן הִנּוֹם — Valley of the Son of Hinnom (2 Chr 28:3; Jer 7:31-32; 19:2, 6) - In Second Temple literature, this site became associated with eschatological judgment (1 En 27:2; 4 Ezra 7:36; 2 Bar 85:13).

Synonyms¶

No direct synonyms were returned by search_relationships.py for G1067.

Antonyms¶

No antonyms were returned by search_relationships.py for G1067.

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared KJV Translation	Key Difference
ᾅδης (hades)	G86	both translated "hell"	Hades = realm of the dead (morally neutral, equivalent to Sheol); geenna = place of fiery final punishment. Hades is associated with death and the grave; geenna with fire and destruction.
שְׁאוֹל (sheol)	H7585	both translated "hell"	Sheol = OT realm of the dead (all the dead, righteous and wicked); geenna = NT term for fiery eschatological punishment of the wicked only.
λίμνη τοῦ πυρός (lake of fire)	G3041 + G4442	functionally overlapping	Revelation's "lake of fire" (G3041, 10x) plays the same role as geenna but is never called geenna. Geenna appears only in the Synoptics and James; lake of fire only in Revelation.

Domain Neighbors (Louw-Nida 1.19 — Regions Below the Surface of the Earth)¶

Strong's	Lemma	Total vv	Primary KJV Translation	Key Difference
G12	ἄβυσσος	9	bottomless pit, bottomless	The abyss — a place of confinement for demonic beings (Luke 8:31; Rev 9:1); not specifically a place of punishment for humans
G86	ᾅδης	10	hell, of hell	Realm of the dead (morally neutral); equivalent to Sheol
G899	βάθος	6	depth, deep	"Depth" generally; not a technical afterlife term
G1857	ἐξώτερος	3	outer	"Outer darkness" in Matthew's judgment parables
G2217	ζόφος	3	blackness, darkness	Darkness/gloom as a place of punishment (2 Pet 2:4, 17; Jude 6, 13)
G5020	ταρταρόω	1	down to hell	Tartarus — classical Greek term for deepest punishment (2 Pet 2:4, angels only)

Hebrew Source¶

No LXX mapping exists for geenna — it is a proper noun transliteration, not a translated word. The tool confirms: "No Hebrew sources found for G1067." The word bypasses the LXX translation bridge entirely; Jesus coins its use as an eschatological term directly from Hebrew geography.