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Hinnom

Biblical
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Hinnom is a valley near Jerusalem associated with idolatry, punishment, and Gehenna.

Detailed Definition
The Valley of Hinnom becomes notorious in prophetic writing for forbidden rites and later contributes to the imagery of Gehenna, a place of judgment. Its physical location near the holy city makes corruption disturbingly adjacent to worship. In poetry, Hinnom may represent the polluted border of a community, the furnace of collective wrongdoing, or the place where discarded violence returns as prophecy.
Example
Example in poetry:
“The children of Hinnom walk through smoke at the edge of the city” invokes the valley’s associations with judgment and destruction; A poet may use Hinnom as a shadowed place where a society hides its violence; “In the Valley of Hinnom, the discarded names return at night” transforms the biblical site into a landscape of historical memory; Hinnom can suggest both literal place and the terrifying consequences of moral abandonment.
Additional Notes
Hinnom, or the Valley of Hinnom, lies near Jerusalem and is associated in the Hebrew Bible with abhorrent rites, including child sacrifice connected with idolatry. Because of these traditions, the related name Gehenna later became an image of judgment and punishment. In poetry, Hinnom may symbolize polluted worship, moral horror, divine judgment, or a place transformed from historical geography into theological metaphor. Related terms include Topheth, Gehenna, and Jerusalem.
Also Known As
Valley of Hinnom Gehenna
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