[Intro - 4-bar atmospheric, distant fire crackling and wind, low drone, drums kick in at bar 3]

[Verse 1]
South of Jerusalem the valley still remains,
Where Ahaz burned his children in the lurid flames.
Where Manasseh did the same and the prophets cried,
Where the kings of Judah passed their children through the fire and died.
By the time of Christ the place was the city's dump,
Where the refuse of the nation took the burning lump.
And the rabbis called it Gehenna and the word it gave
Was the cultural shame of Israel's deepest grave.

[Pre-chorus]
And when Jesus said the word it had a place in mind,
Not a metaphor for somewhere the philosophers could find.
A specific valley. A specific shame. A specific fire.
The eschatology was geography the prophets did require.

[Chorus - GANG VOCAL]
GEHENNA! GEHENNA!
The valley of the shame and the fire that won't be sterner!
GEHENNA! GEHENNA!
The dump of the nation - and the warning of the learner!
The place where the children were given to the flame!
The place where the refuse of the city took its name!
GEHENNA! GEHENNA!
And the Lord spoke the word - and named the burner!

[Verse 2]
The framework reads the prophet without the Greek mist,
The framework names the substance with the closed fist.
Gehenna was not a metaphor for a state of mind,
Gehenna was a coordinate the Author had assigned.
The eschatological reality the valley pre-figured
Is the felt reality the uncovered have configured.
The fire is the shame, the shame is the gaze,
And the dump south of Salem was a flame for the days.

[Pre-chorus]
And when Jesus said the word it had a place in mind,
Not a metaphor for somewhere the philosophers could find.
A specific valley. A specific shame. A specific fire.
The eschatology was geography the prophets did require.

[Chorus - GANG VOCAL]
GEHENNA! GEHENNA!
The valley of the shame and the fire that won't be sterner!
GEHENNA! GEHENNA!
The dump of the nation - and the warning of the learner!
The place where the children were given to the flame!
The place where the refuse of the city took its name!
GEHENNA! GEHENNA!
And the Lord spoke the word - and named the burner!

[Guitar Solo - 16 bars, Angus Young slow blues-pentatonic in D minor, sustained, mournful, building]

[Final Chorus - DOUBLE, gang vocals stacked higher, fire sounds underneath]
GEHENNA! GEHENNA!
The valley of the shame and the fire that won't be sterner!
GEHENNA! GEHENNA!
The dump of the nation - and the warning of the learner!
GEHENNA! GEHENNA!
A coordinate, not a costume - and not a learner!
GEHENNA! GEHENNA!
The Lord spoke the place - and named the burner!
GEHENNA! GEHENNA!
And the page of the prophet - is the page of the burner!

[Outro - 4-bar slow riff to fade, fire crackling continues, fades last]