Gehenna (Heb. Ge-Hinnom, the vale of Hin-nom), a valley adjacent to Jerusalem, on the south and southwest, also called Tophet, and often mentioned in Scripture in connection with the idolatrous rites of Moloch, which were there celebrated. From the abhorrence with which the Jews after the captivity regarded this worship, the valley was made the common sewer of the city, and a receptacle for all its refuse, which was there consumed by fire. In the New Testament the name is transferred by an easy metaphor to hell.