Hell

Daniel Walin danserve4x at yahoo.com
Thu Oct 24 17:37:47 EDT 2002


B-Greekers,

Disclaimer:  I am a currently a very, very "little"
Greek (downright tiny even, miniscule, microscopic,
etc.), as the saying goes, and am thus somewhat
dangerous.  Please correct any stupid errors which are
likely to come out of my [figurative] mouth.

I would like to add to this request as I have wondered
about this topic before.  In addition to what the
words are likely to mean, where do they come from (and
therefore what connotations might they have carried)? 
For instance, I [think I] know that tartaros and hades
were Greek words prior to the NT.  I seem to recall
hearing somewhere that gehenna actually comes from a
place near Jerusalem.  What is the significance of
that?  [Am I even remembering right?]

Out of curiousity I performed some searches in the
NA27 in BibleWorks (thus making myself more
dangerous).  I can't seem to find Tartaros (as a noun)
in the GNT, though I may be mispelling it or something
I suppose.  The only thing I found was a verb in 2
Peter 2:4 which looks like it could be related,
TARTARWSAS.  Some dictionary entries on it say things
like "hurl into Tartaros," "put in hell," etc.

I found 12 references to GEENNA in three forms
(GEENNAN, acc s, GEENNHi, dat s, and GEENNHS, gen s). 
All references occur in the Gospels except for one in
James 3:6.   Most (7) of them are in Matthew.  The
dictionary (Friberg Lexicon) says it is literally 

"valley of Hinnom, a ravine south of Jerusalem where
fires were kept burning to consume the dead bodies of
animals, criminals, and refuse; figuratively in the
Gospels and James for hell, a fiery place of eternal
punishment for the ungodly dead."  
(YAY!  I heard right).

I found 10 verses of hADHS in four forms (nom, gen,
dat, acc, all singular).  This is the entry I found
for hADHS:  

"(1) the place of the dead underworld (AC .27); (2)
usually in the NT as the temporary underworld prison
where the souls of the ungodly await the judgment (LU
16.23); (3) personified as following along after Death
(RV .8)"

Interesting Things:
There doesn't seem to be much Biblical mention of
Tartaros. (maybe 2 Peter 2:4?)
GEENNA is used 7 times in Matthew, 3 times in Mark, 1
time in Luke, and 1 time in James.
hADHS is used 2 times in Matthew, 2 times in Luke, 2
times in Acts, and 4 times in Revelation.

Perhaps someone who actually knows a lot of Greek can
comment as well?

EN CRISTWi,
Daniel Walin
Wanna-be Greek Scholar
Undergraduate Student
Baylor University

__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Y! Web Hosting - Let the expert host your web site
http://webhosting.yahoo.com/



More information about the B-Greek mailing list