ABSTRACT
Though there is no explicit reference to the hereafter in the Hebrew Bible, a number of expressions are used to refer to the realm of the dead. In Psalms 28:1 and 88:5 bor refers to a pit. In Psalm 6:5 as well as in Job 28:22 and 30:23, mavet is used in a similar sense. In Psalm 22:15 the expression afar mavet refers to the dust of death. In Exodus 15:12 and Jonah 2:6 the earth (eretz) is described as swallowing up the dead, and in Ezekiel 31:14 the expression eretz tachtit refers to the
nether parts of the earth where the dead dwell. Finally, the word sheol is frequently used to refer to the dwelling of the dead in the nether world. In addition, the words ge ben hinnom, ge hinnom and ge are used to refer to a cursed valley associated with fire and death where, according to Jeremiah, children were sacrificed as burnt offerings to Moloch and Baal. In later rabbinic literature the word ordinarily used for hell (Gehenna) is derived from these names.
