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What is Hell

Edwin Dimla
Nov 26, 2014
12 min read

When you hear or read the word hell, how do you picture the place?

1. The different words in the Bible that were translated into it.

2. The verses and the meaning of those words.

3. Coming out from it.

4. It's destruction.

Four Words That Became Hell

There were four words from different languages that were translated into English as "hell".

1. Sheol

2. Hades

3. Gehenna

4. Tartarus

and another phrase that people usually think to mean it, which is the "lake of fire".

From what biblical verses they appear and what do they really mean?

Sheol can be found in such verses as these and so on some English translations you may read these verses to say "hell" instead:

Genesis 37:35 "Then all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. And he said, "Surely I will go down to Sheol in mourning for my son." So his father wept for him.

Genesis 44:29 'If you take this one also from me, and harm befalls him, you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.'

1 Kings 2:9 "Now therefore, do not let him go unpunished, for you are a wise man; and you will know what you ought to do to him, and you will bring his gray hair down to Sheol with blood."

Psalms 6:5 For there is no mention of You in death; In Sheol who will give You thanks?

Psalms 18:5 The cords of Sheol surrounded me; The snares of death confronted me.

Psalms 89:48 "What man can live and not see death? Can he deliver his soul from the power of Sheol?

Proverbs 1:12 Let us swallow them alive like Sheol, Even whole, as those who go down to the pit;

Proverbs 30:16 Sheol, and the barren womb, Earth that is never satisfied with water, And fire that never says, "Enough."

Ezekiel 31:15-17 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "On the day when it went down to Sheol I caused lamentations; I closed the deep over it and held back its rivers. And its many waters were stopped up, and I made Lebanon mourn for it, and all the trees of the field wilted away on account of it. "I made the nations quake at the sound of its fall when I made it go down to Sheol with those who go down to the pit; and all the well-watered trees of Eden, the choicest and best of Lebanon, were comforted in the earth beneath. "They also went down with it to Sheol to those who were slain by the sword; and those who were its strength lived under its shade among the nations.

Jonah 2:2- and he said, "I called out of my distress to the LORD, And He answered me I cried for help from the depth of Sheol; You heard my voice.

Job 7:9 "When a cloud vanishes, it is gone, So he who goes down to Sheol does not come up.

Job 17:13-16 "If I look for Sheol as my home, I make my bed in the darkness; If I call to the pit, 'You are my father'; To the worm, 'my mother and my sister'; Where now is my hope? And who regards my hope?

Isaiah 14:9-11 "Sheol from beneath is excited over you to meet you when you come; It arouses for you the spirits of the dead, all the leaders of the earth; It raises all the kings of the nations from their thrones. "They will all respond and say to you, 'Even you have been made weak as we, You have become like us. 'Your pomp and the music of your harps Have been brought down to Sheol; Maggots are spread out as your bed beneath you And worms are your covering.'

Isaiah 38:18 "For Sheol cannot thank You, Death cannot praise You; Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness.

Numbers 16:33 So they and all that belonged to them went down alive to Sheol; and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly.

1 Samuel 2:6 "The LORD kills and makes alive; He brings down to Sheol and raises up.

Job 24:19 "Drought and heat consume the snow waters, So does Sheol those who have sinned.

Psalms 9:17 The wicked will return to Sheol, Even all the nations who forget God.

Psalms 31:17 Let me not be put to shame, O LORD, for I call upon You; Let the wicked be put to shame, let them be silent in Sheol.

Psalms 49:14 As sheep they are appointed for Sheol; Death shall be their shepherd; And the upright shall rule over them in the morning, And their form shall be for Sheol to consume So that they have no habitation.

Psalms 55:15-Let death come deceitfully upon them; Let them go down alive to Sheol, For evil is in their dwelling, in their midst.

Isaiah 14:15 "Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol, To the recesses of the pit.

Job 14:13 "Oh that You would hide me in Sheol, That You would conceal me until Your wrath returns to You, That You would set a limit for me and remember me!

Psalms 16:10 For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.

Psalms 30:3 O LORD, You have brought up my soul from Sheol; You have kept me alive, that I would not go down to the pit.

Psalms 49:15 But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol, For He will receive me. Selah.

Psalms 86:13 For Your loving kindness toward me is great, And You have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.

As you have read from all those biblical verses above, every time the word Sheol is used, it denotes "death" or the place of the dead.

Sheol, Hades or graveyard

While the word Hades is found in these verses, of which some English versions translated too, into the word hell:

Matthew 11:23 "And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day.

Luke 10:15 "And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will be brought down to Hades!

Luke 16:23 "In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom.

Acts 2:27 Because you will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor allow your holy one to undergo decay.

Matthew 16:18 "I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.

Revelation 1:18 and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.

Revelation 20:13-14 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire This is the second death, the lake of fire.

Did you notice something? While all the verses that used Sheol came from the books of the Bible, commonly referred to as the "Old Testament", the Biblical verses that used "Hades" are all found in what is commonly referred to as the "New Testament".

And the usage is very similar. Every time Hades is used, it denoted death or the place of the dead.

It means that Sheol and Hades signify the same thing said in two different languages, Sheol is Hebrew and Hades is Greek. (it is notable though that while all the usage of these two words denote death, Luke is giving it a twist, which is the notion that those who died and in Hades are conscious and can have "activities", this is another reason why the writings of Luke is questionable, please read the article "The Bible" for more info regarding the book of Luke)

In both usage of Sheol and Hades, that meant death and the place of those who died, there are no mention of eternal punishment by fire or otherwise.

This equality of usage can be found in:

Psalms 16:10 For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.

Acts 2:27 Because you will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor allow your holy one to undergo decay.

So there is no doubt that Sheol and Hades means the same thing.

What are the condition of those who are in Sheol and Hades? They are dead. (Ecclesiastes 9:10)

Sheol and Hades - therefore means the common grave, where all the dead goes, no matter how the world views them as good or bad. All the dead goes into it.

Can a dead escape or come out of Sheol? Yes! When God calls those He want to call out from it they will come out. (John 5:28,29, 1 Samuel 2:6 )

What about Gehenna?:

Matthew 5:22 WEB - But I tell you, that everyone who is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment; and whoever shall say to his brother, 'Raca,' shall be in danger of the council; and whoever shall say, 'You fool,' shall be in danger of the fire of Gehenna.

Matthew 5:29 WEB - If your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and cast it from you. For it is profitable for you that one of your members should perish, than for your whole body to be cast into Gehenna.

Matthew 5:30 WEB - If your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off, and cast it from you: for it is profitable for you that one of your members should perish, and not your whole body be cast into Gehenna.

Matthew 10:28 WEB - Don't be afraid of those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. Rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.

Matthew 18:9 WEB - If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out, and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into the Gehenna of fire.

Matthew 23:15 WEB - Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel around by sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much of a son of Gehenna as yourselves.

Matthew 23:33 WEB - You serpents, you offspring of vipers, how will you escape the judgment of Gehenna?

Mark 9:43 WEB - If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having your two hands to go into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire,

Mark 9:45 WEB - If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life lame, rather than having your two feet to be cast into Gehenna, into the fire that will never be quenched -

Mark 9:47 WEB - If your eye causes you to stumble, cast it out. It is better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into the Gehenna of fire,

Luke 12:5 WEB - But I will warn you whom you shall fear. Fear him, who after he has killed, has power to cast into Gehenna. Yes, I tell you, fear him.

James 3:6 WEB - And the tongue is a fire. The world of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and is set on fire by Gehenna.

Gehenna as it appears by its usage on the above verses, may also denote death, but with a closer examination something more is meant. Consider Christ's usage in:

Matthew 10:28 WEB - Don't be afraid of those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. Rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.

In the above, Christ is clearly putting a difference between a death and Gehenna. Meaning that going to Gehenna is a lot worse than dying. Why is that?

We can understand this difference if we have understood about death, where YHWH and Christ meant to wake the dead up. All dead will be resurrected (John 5:28,29). So the dead have this hope of living again, while going to Gehenna is worst than dying. What can be worst than the state of the dead(where you will be resurrected)? Yes! the worst will be a state where a person will not be resurrected!

Christ thus meant that those who have been judged by God to be worthy of going to Gehenna will not be included in the category of the dead. Because they will not be resurrected.

Gehenna thus means - eternal destruction, a state where a person will not be resurrected. A person that is judged to go in this state is not "dead" but is "destroyed" forever.

This meaning is easily understood by the people whom Christ spoke with, because on that time, Gehenna was a literal place which is the- Valley of Hinnom, a Jewish community dumpster where all unclean is thrown to be burned or eaten by maggots. The same place was once a location where children sacrifices were done. So the feeling of disgust and the need to avoid in ending up in such a place, is easily conveyed.

What about Tartarus? (Tartaroo)

This word appeared in the Bible only once, found in:

2 Peter 2:4 WEB For if God didn't spare angels when they sinned, but cast them down to Tartarus, and committed them to pits of darkness, to be reserved to judgment;

The usage above is very different from the usage of Sheol, Hades and Gehenna;

1. Those that are involved in getting cast are not humans.

2. Those cast there are kept alive, did not pass the point of death, not destroyed. They are "reserved" for a future judgement.

3. The place is a place of "pits of darkness" that, taken literally would mean no fire is lighting the place. Taken spiritually, that would mean the separation of these beings from YHWH.

Tartarus - therefore would mean a state in which the fallen angels are categorized when they are waiting for the final judgement of their fall. It has nothing to do with humans.

Now about the phrase that many people think also meant hell is the "lake of fire". This term is only used 4 times in the Bible, and all of those instances are in the book of

Revelations:

Revelation 19:20 GNT The beast was taken prisoner, together with the false prophet who had performed miracles in his presence. (It was by those miracles that he had deceived those who had the mark of the beast and those who had worshiped the image of the beast.) The beast and the false prophet were both thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.

Revelation 20:10 GNT Then the Devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had already been thrown; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Revelation 20:14 GNT Then death and the world of the dead were thrown into the lake of fire.

(This lake of fire is the second death.)

Revelation 20:15 GNT Those who did not have their name written in the book of the living were thrown into the lake of fire.

With the above verses, who and what go into the lake of fire?

1. beast

2. false prophet

3. Devil

4. death

5. world of the dead (please notice that in other translation this is Hades or Sheol)

6. people who don't have their name in the book of the living

Surely, the lake of fire is not the same as Sheol or Hades since it is also thrown into the lake of fire.

What is the meaning given by God himself about this lake of fire by the way? According to

Revelations 20:14 the lake of fire means - second death, the first death being Sheol and Hades and those who go in there will be resurrected, while in the "second death" they will not exist anymore.

This is evident as can be seen on the effect of being thrown the lake of fire in Revelations 21:4..."death will be no more..."

So the above listed that will be thrown into the lake of fire along with death will cease to exist from that time on, without a chance of existing again...

Thus, the lake of fire is equal to the meaning of Gehenna, Why then Gehenna is not used in Revelations? Because by the time Revelations is read - Valley of Hinnom would not exist anymore, remember that when Gehenna was used, it was verbally transmitted by Christ to his audience. While Revelations was "written down" for the future readers.(Revelations 1:3, 22:10)

Appearance of the word hell in different Bible translations:

Year AD BIBLE VERSION OT NT Total

400 The Latin Vulgate 87 24 111

1611 King James Version 31 23 54

1884 Hanson’s New Covenant n/a 0 0

1891 Young’s Literal Translation 0 0 0

1900 Twentieth Century New Testament n/a 0 0

1901 American Standard Version 0 13 13

1902 Rotherham’s Emphasized Bible 0 0 0

1903 Weymouth’s New Testament n/a 0 0

1917 Jewish Publication Society Bible OT 0 n/a 0

1942 Emphatic Diaglott Greek/English Int. n/a 0 0