A dark valley under a heavy, smoke-filled sky

Jesus warned: Matthew 10:28

Fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.

Jesus spoke about hell more than anyone else in the Bible. He did not soften it, and He did not leave anyone without a way out. Read His warnings in His own words, then read how to escape.

The way of escape Read His warnings

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What the Bible warns

Hell is real, and it is forever

Every line below is Scripture, quoted word for word. Gehenna and Hades are the words the Bible uses for the place of punishment and the realm of the dead.

“These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Matthew 25:46

“It is better for you to enter into God’s Kingdom with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into the Gehenna of fire, ‘where their worm doesn’t die, and the fire is not quenched.’”
Mark 9:47-48

“Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue! For I am in anguish in this flame.”
Luke 16:24

“Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, that those who want to pass from here to you are not able, and that no one may cross over from there to us.”
Luke 16:26

“The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. They have no rest day and night.”
Revelation 14:11

“If anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.”
Revelation 20:15

“Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them … are shown as an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire.”
Jude 7

“Angels who didn’t keep their first domain … he has kept in everlasting bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day.”
Jude 6

“… it is appointed for men to die once, and after this, judgment.”
Hebrews 9:27

The way of escape

No one has to go there

God is “not wishing that anyone should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). This is the way out He gave.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only born Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him. He who believes in him is not judged.”
John 3:16-18

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 6:23

“Enter in by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter in by it. How narrow is the gate and the way is restricted that leads to life! There are few who find it.”
Matthew 7:13-14

How to be saved, now Talk with a person

In His own words

What Jesus said about hell

All 10

Even an angry word is enough

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus says that contempt for a brother puts a person in danger of the Gehenna of fire. He was showing that sin starts in the heart, and that everyone needs mercy.

Better to lose an eye than your whole self

Jesus said it is better to lose a hand, a foot or an eye than to be thrown into Gehenna, where the fire is not quenched. He was showing how seriously to take sin, not asking anyone to harm themselves.

Do not fear people. Fear Him who can destroy body and soul.

Jesus told His friends not to be afraid of people who can only kill the body, but to fear God, who has authority over body and soul in Gehenna. In the next breath He told them how much God cares for them.

At the end of the age the angels will separate

In two parables, the weeds in the field and the net full of fish, Jesus said that at the end of the age the angels will separate the wicked from the righteous.

Jesus' sharpest warning was for the religious

Jesus warned the religious leaders of His day, who looked holy on the outside, that they were in danger of the judgment of Gehenna. Being religious does not save anyone.

Outer darkness, weeping and gnashing of teeth

Several times Jesus described judgment as being thrown out into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth: shut out from the joy of His kingdom.

Eternal punishment, eternal life

Describing His return as King, Jesus said the nations will be separated like sheep from goats, and some will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.

The rich man and Lazarus

Jesus told of a rich man who ignored a beggar at his gate. After death the rich man was in torment in Hades and asked for someone to warn his brothers. The answer: they have the Scriptures.

God so loved the world

In the most famous verse in the Bible Jesus said God gave His Son so that whoever believes in Him should not perish. He also said the one who does not believe is condemned already.

All who are in the tombs will hear His voice

Jesus said a day is coming when everyone who has died will hear His voice and come out: some to the resurrection of life, some to the resurrection of judgment. He also said how to pass from death to life now.

Before it is too late