a term used in the New Testament to signify hell, and which is derived from the Hebrew Ge-hinnom, i.e. the valley of Hinnom. In this valley, which lies on the north side of Jerusalem, below Mount Zion, there was a place named Tophet, where, under idolatrous kings, children were immolated in honour of the god Moloch. When king Josiah overthrew that idolatry, he made this valley the receptacle for all the filth and carcasses in the city, and a fire was kept constantly burning to consume the combustible portions of the refuse deposited there; on which account the Jews, as they had no proper word in their language to signify "hell," made use of gehinnom as an equivalent term.