What is the Hebrew word for hell?

Answer 1

There is no word for Hell in Hebrew and no concept of it in Judaism. The closest equivalent is geh hinom (gehenna in English), which is actually a valley in Israel where human sacrifices once occurred by followers of Moloch, and later garbage was dumped there.

There was a time in the past, where early rabbis equated this valley with devine punishment, but that has mostly disappeared from Judaism.

Answer 2

"Gehenom" (גהנום).

-------------------

Another answer:

The Hebrew word often translated 'hell' is "she'ohl′ " in the "Old Testament'"

which was translated into the Greek word "hai′des" in the "New Testament",

both meaning simply 'the grave' where "neither reward for the righteous nor punishment for the wicked was associated "

Encyclopaedia Britannica (1971, Vol. 11, p. 276)

Vine's Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (1981, Vol. 2, p. 187)

Collier's Encyclopedia (1986, Vol. 12, p. 28)

Gehenna was the literal 'garbage dump' in ancient Israel, in the Valley of Hinnom , and was used as a place for the disposal of dead carcasses of animals, and criminals not deserving of burial, and all waste matter from the city of Jerusalem and ".. there was a continual fire there to burn the unclean things and the bones of the carcasses...". When Jesus used Gehenna in his talks, it was an illustration the people of his day could clearly understand. It pictured not torture, but the "utter destruction from which no resurrection is possible" .

Jewish commentator David Kimhi (1160-1235?) (Matthew 10:28)

Bauer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (revised by F. W. Gingrich and F. Danker, 1979, p. 95)

The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology (edited by C. Brown, 1978, Vol. 3, p. 304)

_________

Clarification:

The Christian concept of hell does not exist in Judaism.

Answer 3

There is no such thing as Hell in Judaism, and there is no Hebrew word for it. The closest word would be geh hinom (גיהינום) but this is a real, geographical place that was once believed to be cursed.

Modern Hebrew uses the word Geh hinom to translate the English word "hell" in movies, and Israelis are generally familiar with the concept as a foreign idea.

Answer 4

Sheol