Valley of Ben Hinnom
Valley of Ben Hinnom is a location mentioned in the Old Testament, located in the region of Judea in modern-day Israel. Known today as Hinnom Valley. It appears across 12 verses in Scripture.
Biblical History
The Valley of Ben Hinnom is one of the most theologically laden geographical sites in the entire Hebrew Bible. Running along the southern and southwestern margins of ancient Jerusalem, it appears first in Joshua 15:8 and 18:16 as a boundary marker between the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. Its early history is largely neutral, but it became notorious during the period of the Israelite monarchy when kings Ahaz (2 Chronicles 28:3) and Manasseh (2 Chronicles 33:6) practiced child sacrifice there to the god Molech, burning their own children in the fire. The prophet Jeremiah condemned these abominations repeatedly (Jeremiah 7:31-32; 19:2-6), declaring that God would rename it the Valley of Slaughter because of the coming judgment. King Josiah defiled the site to prevent further cultic misuse (2 Kings 23:10). In the intertestamental period, the valley's name, Ge Hinnom in Hebrew, was contracted to Gehenna in Aramaic and Greek, becoming the primary New Testament term for the place of final punishment. Jesus uses Gehenna repeatedly in the Gospels to describe the ultimate consequences of unrepentant sin, making this physical valley a theological landmark of eternal significance.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
The Valley of Ben Hinnom (modern Wadi er-Rababi) is a clearly identifiable geographical feature that wraps around the southern and western sides of the Old City of Jerusalem. Archaeological investigation has confirmed its long use as a burial ground, with numerous rock-cut tombs dating from the Iron Age through the Byzantine period discovered in its slopes. The Akeldama cemetery, associated in the New Testament with the purchase of a burial field (Acts 1:19), lies within or adjacent to this valley. Iron Age remains found in the area are consistent with Jerusalem's expansion during the monarchy period. Today the valley is a public park, and its ancient contours remain largely intact beneath modern landscaping.
Verse Appearances (12)
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- OpenBible.info (n.d.) Bible Geocoding. Available at: https://www.openbible.info/geo/. [CC BY 4.0]
- Bagnall, R. et al. (eds.) (n.d.) Pleiades: A Gazetteer of Past Places. Available at: https://pleiades.stoa.org. [CC BY 3.0]
- Wikidata contributors (n.d.) Wikidata. Available at: https://www.wikidata.org. [CC0]
- Lawrence, D. et al. (2025) Villages to Empires: a settlement dataset for the Southern Levant. doi:10.5281/zenodo.15111732. [CC BY 4.0]
- Church of England (1769) The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. [Public Domain]