1 Enoch 27:1

In 1 translation

1En-Charles

Then said I: ‘For what object is this blessed land, which is entirely filled with trees, and this accursed valley ╓between╖?’And this accursed valley between E. Gᵍ = 'and (why is) this valley accursed?' i.e. Gg has lost ή. Gehenna was early associated with the worship of Moloch, repressed by Josiah (2 Kings xxiii. 10), and cursed by Jeremiah (Jer. vii. 31, 32, xix. 2, 6, xxxii. 35). In Isa. lxvi. 24, the rebellious and apostate Jews suffer by fire there, in the presence of the righteous, as here. There are two stages in the growth of the idea. (l) In 1 Enoch xlviii. 9, liv. 1, 2, lxii. 12, 13, xc. 26, 27, the apostate Jews are there corporally and spiritually punished for ever. In xxxvii-lxx, the wicked are to be swept away after awhile. Cf. xlviii. 9, lxii. 12, 13. (2) It is a place of spiritual punishment only, for apostate Jews xci-civ. Cf. xcviii. 3. In the N. T. (e.g. Matt. v. 29, 30) Gehenna is for the wicked generally. After Judaism regarded Gehenna as the purgatory of faithless Jews, and the place of eternal perdition for the Gentiles. Weber Jüd. Theol. 341 seqq.