Matthew 5:22

Brother] either a fellow-Christian or a fellow-man. Without a cause] RV omits.

Raca (Aramaic)] i.e. 'Empty-head': cp. Judges 9:4; Judges 11:3. The council] i.e. the supreme Sanhedrin of seventy-one members at Jerusalem having cognisance of the most serious offences, such as blasphemy. Thou fool] i.e. 'thou wicked and godless man': see Psalms 14:1. Some think that the word here (more) is not Gk. but Heb. (=moreh, rebel). Hell fire] RV 'the hell of fire,' lit. 'the Gehenna of fire.' 'Gehenna,' i.e. the valley of Hinnom (an unknown person), was the place in or near Jerusalem where children were made to pass through the fire to Moloch, and, according to Jewish tradition, where the bodies of criminals were burnt. Hence Gehenna became a synonym for hell, the place of final punishment.