In the King James Version of the Old Testament, the Hebrew word Sheowl (Sheol) was frequently translated "hell." But it was almost as frequently translated "grave."

Thirty one times in the KJV it is translated "hell," and thirty times it is translated "grave."

Why is this?
Why not a consistent rendering?
What is the definition of Sheowl?
Strong's Concordance defines it: hades, or the world of the dead (as if a subterranean retreat) including its accessories and inmates:
Notice: "dead" not walking around in a fire!

Sheowl is the only Hebrew word in the Old Testament that is translated "hell," yet almost half of the times it appears in Scripture, it is rendered "grave." In the Bible, all those who went to Sheowl were dead, waiting for the resurrection, (which in the New Testament,  Jesus promised "on the last day.") There is no indication in the Scriptures that they were burning in a fire. They awaited the judgment, in an unconscious state of death.

"The earth will give birth to the departed spirits (ghosts). Isaiah 28:19c. NASB.

In the New Testament, there are three different words, all translated "hell" in the KJV as well as
many other Bibles.

1. The first of these is used only one time. It is "tartaroo" defined as the deepest
abyss of Hades): to incarcerate in eternal torment: It is translated ". . . cast them down to hell...

2. The second word that is translated "hell" in the KJV is Hades, and it means "unseen, i.e. the place (state) of departed souls (persons). " Again, the KJV translates it one time "grave," "O grave, where is thy victory?" (It doesn't say Oh hell, where is thy victory?) and ten times it is rendered: "hell."  Berry's Interlinear Bible defines it as: "the invisible world," and (figuratively) of deep degradation. Sounds like the grave to me. It means the same as Sheowl in the Hebrew.

3. The remaining Greek word which the KJV translates "hell" is geenna (of Hebrew origin) meaning valley of (the son of) Hinnom; Gehenna (or Ge-Hinnom) a valley of Jerusalem, used (fig.) as a name for the place (or state) of everlasting punishment.

There are several good Hebrew words: "qeber," "qebuwrah," "pittuwach," and at least one Greek
word: "mnemeion," all of which may be translated: "sepulchre" or "grave." So why does the Hebrew text use "Sheowl?"

Wouldn't it be a reasonable assumption that the writer intended to make a distinction in the meaning by the use of each different word?

Why does the KJV translate sheowl "hell" one time and "grave" another time?
Could it be that in Old English the words meant exactly the same thing?

I believe that the accurate rendering of both "Sheowl" and "Hades" is the "grave."
Since the definition of "Tartaroo" hinges on the word "Hades," it could refer to the grave as well.

I do not believe any of these three words, "Sheowl," "Hades," or "Tartaroo" are meant to indicate eternal punishment, but merely, the grave.

So that leaves us only one word that might match up with our common concept of "hell," and that is "Geenna," or Gehenna, which refers to the valley of Hinnom in Jerusalem which was a refuse dump where the bodies of criminals and other "no-goods" were typically thrown to burn up instead of having a decent burial. This, Jesus appears to have used as a type of the "lake of fire" spoken of in Revelation 20:14. Either that, or he was speaking of natural consequences that would follow their actions if they did not change their ways.

The Valley of Hinnom was the scene of continual (perpetual) burning and there was always smoke going up, as refuse was being continually thrown there, so the fire
never went out.

The painting "Dantes Inferno" depicts the devil and his demons with pitch-forks and forked tails, walking around in a fire.  This was his concept of hell. This is where most people get their idea of what hell is like. Of course, it is not to be found in the Bible.

Is "hell" a burning fire, or is it the grave? Can't be both.

Here's a question that demands an answer:

If the devil and his demons are already in the lake of fire, or a burning "hell," as many people believe, are they just walking around in there, waiting eagerly for people to be cast in? The Bible says they the devil and his angels are cast into the "lake of fire" to be in eternal torment. (Rev. 20:10).

If you take a futurist position, the Book of the Revelation says they are yet to be thrown into the lake of fire? Rev. 20:10. That is to be their eternal punishment! If they are already there, does this mean that the Book of the Revelation has already been fulfilled?

I suggest to you that the lake of fire is not a natural fire, because it is designed to torment spirit beings.
 

• The Bible says those who follow Satan will also be thrown into the lake of fire. Has anyone been thrown in yet?
• When you die and you are not converted, do you go to a burning fire?
• Are there live people in there?
• Why would there be a resurrection from such an awful place, a judgment, then a return to that same place?
• Isn't that double jeopard?
• Doesn't our all-wise God know if someone is going to destruction even before they die?
• Does He punish someone before they are judged? Or are we judged as we live our lives, day by day, and at death, our judgment is complete?

 

 
 
 
 
 

There are lots of questions that must be answered!


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I believe there is a great misunderstanding of what "hell" really is and it is largely based upon how we view "eternal punishment."  As we said in the previous article, we have always been taught that "hell" is a place where there is nothing but fire and the devil and his demons live there and anxiously wait for people to die and come there so they can be tortured for eternity for the sins they committed during their short life on the earth.  This is a Dante's Inferno picture of "hell."  It has been preached for a long time and most folks have this picture in mind when they hear the word "hell."
 

• Is this a true picture?
• Is it soundly based on the Bible?
• If the devil and his demons have always lived in a burning, firey "hell," why does it say in Revelations that they will be cast into the lake of fire?
• If they have already been in a fire all this time, why would that be a threat to them?

• So what is "hell?"

If people go to hell when they die, it must be something different to what we imagine.  In the scriptures, even David said, "thou will not leave my soul in hell."  (This was actually prophetic of Jesus.)  The Hebrew word translated "hell" is "sheol" and should have been translated "grave."  It means: "thou will not leave my soul in the grave."  This indicates resurrection is to take place, and it did, not only of Jesus, three days after he was crucified, but also many saints of old were raised and coming out of their tombs after His resurrection they appeared to many in the city of Jerusalem.

Isaiah, speaking of the wicked dead, said: "The dead will not live, the departed spirits will not rise; therefore Thou has punished and destroyed them, and Thou has wiped out all rememberance of them."  Isaiah 26:14.

But speaking of the righteous dead, Isaiah said:  "Your dead will live; their corpses will rise.  You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy, for your dew is as the dew of the dawn, and the earth will give birth to the departed spirits.  So come, my people, enter into your rooms, and close your doors behind you; hide for a little while, until indignation runs its course. 21. For behold, the Lord is about to come out from His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; and the earth will reveal her bloodshed, and no longer cover her slain.  Isaiah 26:19.

Did either one of these groups go to a burning "hell?"  No, they died and went to their grave.  That's what the Hebrew word "Sheol," translated "hell" in the King James Bible means.  But it is only translated "hell" about half of the time.  The other half of the times it is used, it is translated "grave."   So which is it?  Notice that the wicked dead above just didn't exist any longer, but the ones labeled "Your dead" were to be resurrected and live again.  "The earth will give birth to the departed spirits."

In old testament days, when someone died, he was put in a grave or tomb and he slept until the Lord raised him up.  This was true only for the righteous dead, according the the above scripture.

The Old Testament law of an eye-for-an-eye and a tooth-for-a-tooth (Mt. 5:38), is not valid for today.  We are not judged for what we call "sins," but for "sin."  The very fact of not accepting Jesus Christ as our savior is "sin."  In fact, it is the sin that insures destruction.  You see, when we do accept Jesus as the propitiation for our sin, it is His righteousness that saves us.  When we trust in Him and following His precepts, His righteousness is imputed to us.  Our self-righteousness is as filthy rags.  It can never save us.  Salvation by works is impossible.

As far as "sins" are concerned, the Bible says "if we judge ourselves we will not be judged" (This indicates a righteous, accurate judgment, not just an arbitrary decision). That means, when we die and face the Lord, if we judged ourselves rightly and repented of our sins, then there remains no judgment.  Our sins are covered by the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

It is obvious that under the law no one could live a righteous life without sin.  That is, no one except Jesus.  He fulfilled all righteousness thereby redeeming us from the curse, but to do this, He had to die.  "The wages of sin is death." He took our penalty to free us from the wages of sin.  To receive His free gift, we have to believe on Him.  That word believe means a lot more than we think.  Strong's Concordance says it means:

"persuasion, i.e, credence; mor. conviction (of religious truth, or the truthfulness of God or a religious teacher), espec. reliance upon Christ for salvation; abstr. constancy in such profession; by extension, the system of religious (Gospel) truth itself:"

Belief and faith come from the same Greek word, "pistis".  It means total reliance  upon Jesus for our eternal salvation, adherence to, constancy in our profession of faith." You can see that It means much more that the English word "believe," which Webster defines as "to be reasonably sure that something is true."

When we believe, in the true sense of the word, we are freed from the sentence that was placed upon us by the sin of Adam.  We do not have to fear eternal punishment or being cast into outer darkness away from God.

If eternal punishment for not accepting Jesus Christ was: "to live forever in a burning hell," then Jesus, in order to atone for our sins would have had to burn in hell forever, in our place.

If our punishment was to be death, He would only have had to die for us.  The Bible says: "The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23.   It doesn't say that the wages of sin is eternal life in a burning fire.   Death is merely "cessation of life."

Is Jesus burning in hell? Of course not!  Did He effectively make atonement for our sins? Of course He did!  The requirement to satisfy our sentence was death and He paid it all.

Some believe that, when Jesus was crucified, He went to hell (a burning fire where they suppose that Satan lives) and brought out the captives from there.  This is faulty doctrine.  This assumes that the people who died before Christ were all in a burning hell.  (You cannot find this in the Bible.) Then after He was crucified, they say, He went to hell to rescue them.

Why would they be in hell if they were to be freed from it?  The Bible teaches that those Old Testament people died and "slept with their fathers."  This is another way of saying they were placed in the tomb or grave and were "asleep" until the Messiah would come to free them from death (not from a burning hell).  If they were wicked, they remained dead.

As I said earlier, the word "sheol" in the Old Testament is merely the grave and it is translated that way half of the time, even in the KJV.  The word "hell" comes from the old English word "helan," which means to cover something over.  That's where we get our word "shell." So the people who died before Christ came were in their graves, not in a burning hell.  We have to base our doctrines on the Bible, not cleverly devised tales.

By His death, Jesus paid our debt and we were freed from the sentence of the second death.  Of course we will all have to die the natural death (it is appointed unto man once to die...Hebrews 9:27-28) but we will not have to taste the second death of eternal separation from God.  Neither will Christians sleep in the grave.  Those who accepted Jesus as their savior go immediately to be with Him when they die, and are given glorified (heavenly) bodies.  They no longer have need of their fleshly bodies and never will.  The old body returns to the dust from where it came.

In the New Testament, we find, the words "hades," "tartaroo," and "gehenna," all translated "hell."  The three words have totally different meanings.  "Hades" is the Greek equivalent to the Hebrew "sheol."  It means, the grave.

Gehenna refers to the Valley of Hinnom, which was a refuse dump outside Jerusalem where people not worthy of a decent burial were thrown to burn up.  Tartaroo is from the same root as "hades," and is only used once as a deep recess or pit.

Of these three, only gehenna relates to fire.  It is a type of the lake of fire.  Jerusalem was destroyed by fire and the world of the Jews of that time burned up and they were destroyed in it.   Many jumped from the walls into the burning fire.  The Scriptures said: "Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, (written before A. D. 70) by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition (destruction) of ungodly men."

However you relate to the above, fear of "hell" should not be your reason for accepting Jesus as your saviour. Desire to love and serve Him is a much greater reason. I am not sure that those who are "scared" into accepting Him really do. Maybe they are persuaded by their pastor that they are "saved." Salvation is more than "fire insurance."

I have heard preachers many time say "we're going to storm the gates of hell!" What exactly does
this scripture mean?

The Greek word for gates, "pule," pronounced "poo'-lay," means "entrance" or "Portal," and the
word for Hell is "hades," which means "state of departed souls, or "grave." This Jesus spoke
concerning the resurrection from the dead. They no longer had to fear death, for by the resurrection from the dead all live eternally who believe in Jesus. The portals of the grave shall not prevail against the church.

"Have the gates of death been revealed to you?" Job 38:17.

These things seem very small to take issue with, but as we continue, you will see that there are many more serious issues which are much misunderstood. Most of it has to do with the "end-time," or what is also called the "last days."
 
 

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