Hell / Sheol

 

 

 

 

 

Hell / Sheol

 

When I originally wrote this article I was with most that think that there is no literal place the wicked are tormented or it was something completely different like void of God and darkness and so forth or perhaps you are destroyed forever and that's the end of it. It's really irrelevant where it is, the more important point is that it's real and being a good person isn't good enough to stay out of it.

God didn't create Hell to make you live in fear, it's there for those that have no fear of God by not believing he is indeed real or his commandments.

I was watching some videos of peoples experiences regarding being dead in their bodies and leaving them. The main theme from the non believers or atheist or even those claiming to be Christians seemed to be consistent. They are being escorted to a terrible place where they will be indeed tormented forever and once you are there, you are there forever and will know you are there being tormented. They describe in detail what is there even to the approximate height of some of these that are designed to torment you for eternity. I'll post the videos below in Links.

Matthew 18:34 And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.

Matthew 18:35 So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.

Isaiah 48:22 "There is no peace for the wicked," says the LORD.

Something is doing the tormenting, thus their descriptions are probably correct.

Is this fear as some would say put there by men to gain control over you? That's a great argument, however does obeying any of Gods commandments inconvenience you? Do you want people on Earth raping, murdering, stealing, lying, taking advantage of you and so forth making your lives miserable? None of what is expected of you is controlling, it's called order. Without those laws where would we be? I guess it's now 2017 and you can see how the Earth has turned out.

How can a loving God do this to people? It's simply because you chose to not believe and have God in your life and Hell is an extension of this. You put yourselves there not God, because you chose in this lifetime that's the life for you. You can't escape it once you are there because you then see it with your own eyes and believe it to be real and there is no repenting because of this. The ones that aren't there are so because they believed it was real and lived according to Gods commandments.

1 John 3:6 So if we continue to live in him, we won't sin either. But those who keep on sinning have never known him or understood who he is.

Mat 7:23 and then I will acknowledge to them, that -- I never knew you, depart from me ye who are working lawlessness.

Deut 6:17 Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee.

Matthew 12:37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

Proverbs 16:6 By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.

There is no shortage of unbelievers, but what good does not believing do for you other than to comfort your mind while you live out this physical experience? I must say it won't matter what you believed because there is only one outcome when you leave this world you are in God's hands and he will do what he wishes with you.

Hebrews 10:31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

 

Why can't we all just go off to Heaven?

 

A great illustration was made by this guy in this video. LINK He says if you go to a nice neighborhood to someone else mansion and say I'm here to move in because I'm a pretty good person (better than others he knows) they will look at you like why are you here and there's no way we are letting you in, we don't know you.

Getting into Heaven is the same way. They don't let anyone come in. You have this life to live a God fearing life and by living that life with what appears to be no God present in our realities we opted to obey commandments proving we earned our way there.

You can choose in this life to murder, rape, steal, live a life that only involves satisfying oneself, taking advantage of others, lying and so forth and that's your choice. These choices will however get you to where this article is talking about.

It's not impossible to not do these things and that's what it means by sinning no more. If you live obeying God's laws which are not intrusive by any means then you sin no more.

John 8:11 And she said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you; go your way. From now on sin no more."

Here are some recommended videos of persons experiences some being atheist. They say to experience Hell even for a moment is life changing and they are grateful they did because most people get there and they don't come back.

 

Persons Experiences of Hell after Death:

(Personally Selected Experiences You Might Enjoy Watching)

 

LINK - 1 (Vision experience)

LINK - 2 (Very Detailed Descriptions)

LINK - 3 (Very interesting that this man describes in detail cells where people are put which is common of this experience. Describing a woman thinking shes in heaven seeing her Grandma on a farm and so forth but it was a delusion and then she was tormented. This makes me wonder if persons who have other NDE's void of God and Jesus are in fact experiencing something very similar)

LINK - 4 (Woman Shoots herself)

LINK - 5 (Drug overdose experience)

LINK - 6 (Atheist experience)

LINK - 7 (Atheist Professor experience)

LINK - 8 (Lake of Fire experience)

LINK - 9 (Old friends in Hell experience)

LINK - 10 (Battle with Demon experience)

LINK - 11 (Detailed experience)

LINK - 12 (Very interesting video on Life Review)

 

References to Hell can be found in the article below

 

I will show you the original Hebrew words and demonstrate how they branched out when the Greeks translated the Hebrew scriptures as I like to do in all of my articles to provide you the reader with the best visual tools so it’s easy to follow along. I’ve see a lot of web pages deal in this topic and for the most part they present their facts in dull fashion using their English translations with little reference to the Hebrew or Greek words that were written to describe things of this nature.

First and foremost lets have a look at all the words that are used to describe anything to do with death a grave or pit. I’ll do the Hebrew ones first because after all these concepts are Hebrew in origin and the Greek came much later.

 

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Sheol - שאול

 

The Fist word to describe the state of being dead is Sheol - שאול , and its first occurrence is found in this verse:

Genesis 37:35 All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. 'No,' he said, 'I will go down to Sheol in mourning and join my son.' Thus his father wept for him.

שאול - Sheol(Strong’s #07585)

These are the verses where you will find the word Sheol - שאול in the Hebrew text even if the translator uses words such as hell, grave and pit in place of it. From my count I see it’s used 65 times in the Hebrew scriptures.

Genesis 37:35; 42:38; 44:29, 31
Numbers 16:30, 33
Deuteronomy 32:22
1 Samuel 2:6
2 Samuel 22:6
1 Kings 2:6, 9
Job 7:9; 11:8; 14:13; 17:13, 16; 21:13; 24:19; 26:6
Psalms 6:6; 9:18; 16:10; 18:6; 30:4; 31:18; 49:15; 55:16; 86:13; 88:4; 89:49; 116:3; 139:8; 141:7
Proverbs 1:12; 5:5; 7:27; 9:18; 15:11, 24; 23:14; 27:20; 30:16
Eccl. 9:10
Song of Solomon 8:6
Isaiah 5:14; 14:9, 11, 15; 28:15, 18; 38:10, 18; 57:9
Ezekiel 31:15; 32:21, 27
Hosea 13:14
Amos 9:2
Jonah 2:3
Habakkuk 2:5

 

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Grave - קבורה

 

Next we have the word Grave - קבורה(Strong’s # 06900) – Meaning Grave/ Burial Site – Physical place one is buried

This is used 13 times from my count in the Hebrew scriptures to imply where people bury their departed ones. You will find this word in these following verses:

 

Genesis 35:20; 47:30
2 Chronicles 26:23
Eccl. 6:3
Isaiah 14:20
Ezekiel 32:23
Deuteronomy 34:6
2 Kings 9:28; 21:26; 23:30

Genesis 35:20 will list this word 2 times in the WTT Hebrew Texts making the total count 14.

 

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Pit -בור

 

Continuing on we next have the Hebrew word for Pit - בור – (Strong’s # 0953) – Pit, Well, Cistern – None of which imply anything other then a physical pit of some sorts.

 

Genesis 37:20; 37:22, 24(2x), 28; 40:15; 41:14
Exodus 12:29; 21:33
Leviticus 11:36
Deuteronomy 6:11
1 Samuel 13:6; 19:22
2 Kings  10:14;18:31
1 Chronicles 11:17; 11:22
2 Chronicles 26:10;
Nehemiah 9:25
Psalms 7:16; 28:1; 30:4; 40:3; 88:5, 7; 143:7
Proverbs 1:12; 5:15; 28:17
Eccl. 9:1; 12:6;
Isaiah 14:15, 19; 24:22; 36:16; 38:18; 51:1
Jeremiah 6:7; 37:16; 38:6(2x), 9, 13; 41:7, 9
Lamentations 3:53, 55
Ezekiel 26:20; 31:14, 16; 32:18, 23, 29
Zechariah 9:11
 

This word Pit - בור occurs 66 times in the Hebrew Scriptures according to my count.

 

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Death - מות

 

Next the Hebrew word for Death - מות – (Strong’s # 04194) – Death/ State of Death

This word Death - מות occurs 998 times within the Hebrew Scriptures according to my count and so many times that I won't list the occurrences. This is meaning the state of death not a place one goes so there is no need to dwell too much on this particular word.

 

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The Greek Septuagint

 

The Greeks translated the Hebrew verses as well. Let me show you what they used in place of these Hebrew words. Keep in mind here they are taking Hebrew and writing it into their own language.


The Septuagint (commonly abbreviated "LXX") is a Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament. It is one of the earliest translations of the Old Testament available, completed before New Testament times. Knowing they did this before the New Testament was written, I hope you can now see how some of these words came about.

 

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Ge-Henna/ Genna/ Gehennom/ Hinnom גיא הנם

 

Valley of Hinnom - גיא הנם (Strong’s #02011) - A valley (deep and narrow ravine) with steep, rocky sides located southwest of Jerusalem, separating Mount Zion to the north from the hill of evil counsel' and the sloping rocky plateau of the 'plain of Rephaim' to the south. It is first mentioned in Joshua 15:8. (This is a Hebrew place and the name is of Hebrew Origin - the following are the Greek/ Latin names for this same place)

 

Joshua 15:8 It then went back up the Valley of Hinnom, coming from the south to the flank of the Jebusite -- that is, Jerusalem -- and climbed to the crest of the mountain barring the Valley of Hinnom to the west, at the northern end of the Valley of the Rephaim.

 

The LXX shows the words Θαραγγα Ονομ in Joshua 15:8.

Transliterating that I would say it sounds something like Tharagga Onom. Θαραγγα means valley, and the Ονομ must be their transliteration of Hinnom.

Most might recognize the name as Gehenna rather then Hinnom. It’s transliterated as Gehennom in Latin. From the translations I’ve looked at it appears no one uses this name but swaps in Hell instead.

Here is the Latin sample of this name:

Joshua 15:8 ascenditque per convallem filii Ennom ex latere Iebusei ad meridiem haec est Hierusalem et inde se erigens ad verticem montis qui est contra Gehennom ad occidentem in summitate vallis Rafaim contra aquilonem – Latin Vulgate

Genna - Γεεννς (Gehenna) – Strong’s # 01067 –Referring to the Valley of Hinnom above. It shows up in the New Testament 12 times in the following verses (Even if your translation is using “Hell” the Greek word is Genna - Γεεννς:

Matthew 5:22, 29, 30; 10:28;18:9; 23:15, 33
Mark 9:43, 45, 47
Luke 12:5
James 3:6

 

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Topheth

 

Topheth - תפת (Strong’s# 08612) – Place of Fire – Referring to the Valley of Hinnom as mentioned above this word. The specific place humans were burned among the cities garbage also human sacrifices were offered up here into the fires that were constantly burning.

Topheth - Ταφεθ(Greek LXX transliteration)

2 Kings 23:10 He rendered unsanctified Topheth in the Valley of Ben-Hinnom, so that no one could pass his son or daughter through the fire of sacrifice to Molech.

 

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Lets see how the Hebrew word Sheol -שאול branched into these Greek and Latin words. English shares very similar words with these languages.

 

Sheol - שאול

Greek Words used in place of Sheol:

Hades - Αδου – (Strong’s #00086) – Realm of the Dead – Also translated as Hell, Grave and Death.

 

Latin Words used in place of Sheol

Infernum, Inferno

These Latin words sound similar to our English words for fire, but they actually mean “lower, under; underground, of the lower regions”

 

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Abyss/ Bottomless Pit

 

Abyss - Αβυσσον – (Strong’s #00012)– Bottomless – Also Bottomless Pit

Used in the following verses:

 

Luke 8:31 And these begged him not to order them to depart into the Abyss.

Romans 10:7 or "'Who will descend into the abyss?'"(that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).

Revelation 20:3 He hurled him into the Abyss and shut the entrance and sealed it over him, to make sure he would not lead the nations astray again until the thousand years had passed. At the end of that time he must be released, but only for a short while.

These next verses also use this same Greek word Αβυσσον meaning Abyss/ Bottomless, but translate this same word as Bottomless Pit rather then using Abyss. I like to show this is using the same Greek word so we don’t go thinking they are referring to a separate place.

 

Revelation 9:1 And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.

Revelation 9:2 And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. (The last use of pit is using a different Greek word Θρεατος – Strong’s # 5421 - Meaning a Well )

Revelation 9:11 And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon

Revelation 11:7 And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.

Revelation 17:8 The beast that thou saw was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

Revelation 20:1 And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.

There is also this verse which surely refers to this same place.

Jude 1:6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.

Darkness/ Blackness - Ζοφον - (Strong's # 02217)

That sums up the use of this word in the New Testament, here is a piece from the Book of Enoch describing this place.

 

Enoch 21:1-10 The Abyss for Angels

1,2 And I proceeded to where things were chaotic. And I saw there something horrible: I saw neither 3 a heaven above nor a firmly founded earth, but a place chaotic and horrible. And there I saw 4 seven stars of the heaven bound together in it, like great mountains and burning with fire. Then 5 I said: 'For what sin are they bound, and on what account have they been cast in hither?' Then said Uriel, one of the holy angels, who was with me, and was chief over them, and said: 'Enoch, why 6 dost thou ask, and why art thou eager for the truth? These are of the number of the stars of heaven, which have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and are bound here till ten thousand years, 7 the time entailed by their sins, are consummated.' And from thence I went to another place, which was still more horrible than the former, and I saw a horrible thing: a great fire there which burnt and blazed, and the place was cleft as far as the abyss, being full of great descending columns of 8 fire: neither its extent or magnitude could I see, nor could I conjecture. Then I said: 'How 9 fearful is the place and how terrible to look upon!' Then Uriel answered me, one of the holy angels who was with me, and said unto me: 'Enoch, why hast thou such fear and affright?' And 10 I answered: 'Because of this fearful place, and because of the spectacle of the pain.' And he said unto me: 'This place is the prison of the angels, and here they will be imprisoned for ever.'

 

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The Great Chasm

(The Rich Man and Lazarus Parable)

 

In Luke 16:19-31 we read about a man named Lazarus who lived a very poor life. He begged for food and had his wounds licked by dogs. Both the rich man and this poor man die. The rich man sees Lazarus with Abraham from afar off and asks him to offer up his help to get him out of the hell he is in. Abraham says he can't help the man as there is a Great Chasm that seperates the souls so that they can't come over to the other side. The rich man is greatly distressed over this and wishes to warn his family of what becomes of the wicked on the other side. Abraham says how would they believe you if they don't believe Moses and the Prophets.

Luke 16:26 And besides all this, between us and you a Great Chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.'

Great/ Mega - Μεγα - (Strong's # 03173)

Chasm - Χασμα - (Strong's # 05490)

 

Enoch 22:1-14 Describing in detail the holding place of spirits of men and why they are there.

1 And thence I went to another place, and he mountain [and] of hard rock. 2 And there was in it four hollow places, deep and wide and very smooth. How smooth are the hollow places and deep and dark to look at. 3 Then Raphael answered, one of the holy angels who was with me, and said unto me: 'These hollow places have been created for this very purpose, that the spirits of the souls of the dead should 4 assemble therein, yea that all the souls of the children of men should assemble here. And these places have been made to receive them till the day of their judgement and till their appointed period [till the period appointed], till the great judgement (comes) upon them.' I saw (the spirit of) a dead man making suit, 5 and his voice went forth to heaven and made suit. And I asked Raphael the angel who was 6 with me, and I said unto him: 'This spirit which maketh suit, whose is it, whose voice goeth forth and maketh suit to heaven?' 7 And he answered me saying: 'This is the spirit which went forth from Abel, whom his brother Cain slew, and he makes his suit against him till his seed is destroyed from the face of the earth, and his seed is annihilated from amongst the seed of men.'

8 The I asked regarding it, and regarding all the hollow places: 'Why is one separated from the other?' 9 And he answered me and said unto me: 'These three have been made that the spirits of the dead might be separated. And such a division has been make (for) the spirits of the righteous, in which there is the bright spring of 10 water. And such has been made for sinners when they die and are buried in the earth and judgement has not been executed on them in their 11 lifetime.

Here their spirits shall be set apart in this great pain till the great day of judgement and punishment and torment of those who curse for ever and retribution for their spirits. There 12 He shall bind them for ever. And such a division has been made for the spirits of those who make their suit, who make disclosures concerning their destruction, when they were slain in the days 13 of the sinners. Such has been made for the spirits of men who were not righteous but sinners, who were complete in transgression, and of the transgressors they shall be companions: but their spirits shall not be slain in the day of judgement nor shall they be raised from thence.' 14 The I blessed the Lord of glory and said: 'Blessed be my Lord, the Lord of righteousness, who ruleth for ever.'

 

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Perdition / Destruction

 

Perdition / Destruction - Απωλειαν – (Strong’s # 00684) – Utter destruction

This word is used 140 times in the Greek Scriptures that includes both the Septuagint and the New Testament. The word speaks for itself, destruction. Once something is destroyed you can't keep destroying it, it's gone.

Exodus 22:8

Leviticus 5:22

Numbers 20:3
 
Deuteronomy 4:26; 7:23; 8:19; 12:2; 22:3; 30:18; 32:35

1 Chronicles 21:17
 
Esther 7:4; 8:6; 8:12 (2x)

Job 11:20; 20:5, 28; 27:7; 28:22; 21:30; 26:6; 30:12; 31:3; 41:14

Song of Sol. 2:31; 3:11; 9:5; 13:11; 14:9; 15:9; 15:10; 16:5; 17:22; 87:12

Proverbs 1:26; 6:15; 6:32; 10:11; 10:24; 11:3; 11:6; 13:1, 15; 15:11 (2x); 16:26; 24:22; 27:20; 28:28

Isaiah 14:23; 22:5; 33:2; 34:5; 34:12; 47:11; 54:16; 57:4

Jeremiah 12:11; 12:17; 18:17; 26:21; 30:18, 24, 27; 51:12

Ezekiel 25:7; 26:16, 21; 27:36; 28:7; 28:19; 29:9; 29:10, 12; 31:11; 32:15
 
Daniel 2:18; 6:23; 8:25

Hosea 10:14

Matthew 7:13; 26:8
 
Mark 14:4

John 17:12

Acts 8:20
 
Romans 9:22
 
Philemon 1:28; 3:19

2 Thessalonians 2:3

1 Timothy 6:9

Hebrews 10:39

2 Peter 2:1 (2x); 2:3; 3:7; 3:16

Revelation 17:8, 11
 

 
 

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Tartarus

 

2 Peter 2:4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast [them] down to hell, and delivered [them] into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;

 

Tartarus - Ταρταρωσας – (Strong’s # 05020) – Meaning Cast down into “Hell” as read in most translations. Likely another word for  Abyss Αβυσσον – This is the only time Ταρταρωσας is used within the entire Bible.

Read that Wikipedia link by clicking on the Tartarus name and you will see the origins of this word in Greek History.

 

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Lake of Fire - Λιμνην του Πυρος

 

There is no Strong's number for this term as its using Lake and Fire as two seperate words and not as a combined form.

Here are the seperate words:

Lake - Λιμνη - (Strong's # 03041)

Fire - Πυρ - (Strong's # 04442)

 

Revelation 19:20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a Lake of Fire burning with brimstone.

Revelation 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the Lake of Fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

Revelation 20:14 Then Death and Hades were cast into the Lake of Fire. This is the second death.

Revelation 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the Lake of Fire.

 

 

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Recap of all words

 

Here is a recap of all the words we've encountered:

 

Death - מות – (Strong’s # 04194) – Death/ State of Death

Death - Θανατος - (Strong's # 02288) -Death of the Body

Grave - קבורה – (Strong’s # 06900) – Meaning Grave/ Burial Site – Physical place one is buried

Pit - בור – (Strong’s # 0953) – Pit, Well, Cistern

Sheol - שאול - (Strong’s #07585) -Grave -Place of dead

Hades - Αδου – (Strong’s #00086) – Realm of the Dead – Also translated as Hell, Grave and Death.

Infernum, Inferno - These Latin words sound similar to our English words for fire, but they actually mean “lower, under; underground, of the lower regions”

 

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Perdition / Destruction - Απωλειαν – (Strong’s # 00684) – Utter destruction

Tartarus - Ταρταρωσας – (Strong’s # 05020) – Meaning Cast down into “Hell” as read in most translations.

Abyss - Αβυσσον – (Strong’s #00012) – Bottomless – Also reads as "Bottomless Pit" in the translations but are using this same Greek Word.

 

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Valley of Hinnom - גיא הנם (Strong’s #02011) - A valley (deep and narrow ravine) with steep, rocky sides located southwest of Jerusalem, separating Mount Zion to the north from the hill of evil counsel' and the sloping rocky plateau of the 'plain of Rephaim' to the south. It is first mentioned in Joshua 15:8. (This is a Hebrew place and the name is of Hebrew Origin - the following are the Greek/ Latin names for this same place)

Genna - Γεεννς (Gehenna) – (Strong’s # 01067) –Referring to the Valley of Hinnom above.

Valley of Hinnom - Θαραγγα Ονομ - As it appears in the LXX

Topheth - תפת (Strong’s# 08612) – Place of Fire – Referring to the Valley of Hinnom as mentioned above this word. The specific place humans were burned among the cities garbage also human sacrifices were offered up here into the fires that were constantly burning.

Lake of Fire - Λιμνην του Πυρος

 

 

 

 

Last Update 5-1-2017

 

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