Jesus used the word when he described the agony of the rich man in Hades (Luke 16:23, Luke 16:28). Elsewhere Jesus had described the agony of Hades as “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 24:51). The term, then, catches an intense pain—be it physical, psychological, or emotional.
5 They were allowed to torment them for five months, but not to kill them, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone.