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CHAPTER FIVE

Sheol, Hades, Gehenna, Tartarus

In the King James Bible, there are four words translated Hell (sheol, hades, Tartarus, and Gehenna), even thought they are not synonymous, and these four places are not the same place. Most Bible students now admit that sheol, hades and Tartarus should never have been translated into Hell, but many still hold onto the badly mistranslated King James Version, and Gospel preachers and Bible teachers do little or nothing to teach the truth. Many, who do all they can too correct any lesser error just do not seem to care about this one.

(1) SHEOL IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

Sheol, this one place is given two different and contradictory translations in the King James Version. It is translated into two places that are entirely different places; two places from the same word that have absolutely nothing in common. From the same word a place where those in it are dead and know nothing, or another place where those in it are anything but dead and know pain beyond anything that we can know.

Grave, a burial place that is on this earth where there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, now wisdom (Ecclesiastes 9:10), a place of rest in the dust (Job 17:13-16).
Hell, a place of eternal torment for souls, which at the time of the translation was mostly thought to be a large subterranean place deep in the earth, but now Hell is thought by most that believe in the orthodox version(s) of Hell to be some place not on this earth; whether deep under the earth, or some place out in space, we are told it is an endless place of torment in fire to deathless souls that have no rest, that God will never let their torment end.

Sheol in the King James Version is translated grave 31 times, Hell 31 times, and pit 3 times. The American Standard Version used the untranslated Hebrew word "sheol." The New International Version translated it "grave" 63 times, "death" 1 time, and. “depths” 1 time. The New Century Version and others also translated it grave. The American Standard Version and other newer translations knew Hell as used today (a place of eternal punishment after the resurrection) was not right, but did not translate it "grave." They left the Hebrew word not translated; maybe they thought it would make their translation unacceptable if they translated it, and it most likely would have. Neither sheol nor hades have any meaning in English, and it leave every one free to use any theological definition they want. Hamilton said contrary to popular opinion it does not mean Hell as we use this term, page 384, Truth Commentaries.

The King James Version makes one place, sheol be the grave or pit, and a different place, Hell. How did they know the one common noun means different places, two common nouns, and one proper noun? "Hell," a proper noun, as it is used today is not a thirty-first cousin to grave, a common noun, yet both grave and Hell are translated from the same word, the same common noun in the Hebrew Old Testament, sometimes translated both (1) grave (a common noun) and (2) Hell (a proper noun) from the same word in the same passage. How did they know when the same word in one place was a grave (a common noun) for the dead that is on this earth, and when the same word was an entirely different place (a proper noun), a place of torment that is not on this earth for those who can never be dead? A place for the dead, and in the same passage, a place for those that can never be dead!

"There does not seem to be a very clear distinction in the O. T. between the final destiny of the good and the evil. They all alike go to the grave" Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible, "SHEOL," Volume 1, page 953. The reason for there being no distinction in the Old Testament is that both the good and the evil do go to the grave, and neither the good or the bad will not come out of the grave unto the resurrection.

The Hebrew word "sheol" is left not translated all sixty-five times it is used in the American Standard Version, New American Standard Version, and many others. A Hebrew word that is not translated in an English translation does not help the English reader understand what was said, but it is better than mistranslating it as the King James Version did and teaching a lie. Why do many translations translate all other words and leave this one not translated? Was the reason that if sheol were translated, it would be contrary to what the translators believed, or is it an attempt to side step the question and not have to deal with it. Were the translators afraid that if they told us the truth their translation would not be accepted?

ALL SIXTY-FIVE TIMES SHEOL IS USED

IN THE OLD TESTAMENT IN SEVEN TRANSLATIONS

| ASV | NIV

SHEOL in the | NASV | 2010

Old Testament | KJV | NKJV | NRSV | Update

KJV, King James Version; == NKJV, New King James Version, == ASV; American Standard Version, == NASV; New American Standard Version, == NRSV; New Revised Standard Version, == NIV; New International Version

#Song of Solomon 8:6 is the only time grave is used in place of sheol in the New Revised Standard Version.

*Margin reads "or the grave" in Isaiah 14:9, Amos 9:2, and Jonah 2:2 in the King James Version.

Note: even though sheol, hades, and grave are capitalized in some translations, they are common nouns and should not be capitalized.

The Jewish Publication Society called “Torah” transliterates sheol all 65 times.

There are nineteen changes in the King James and the New King James (See (1) to (19) in the above chart). If there were a way to know when to translate sheol into Hell, and when not to, the translators of the only two of the major translations that have Hell in the Old Testament should have known, and should be in agreement. Are they? The New King James Version takes Hell out of many passages where it is in the King James Version. When they translated a common noun (sheol-grave) into a proper noun (Hell), they did not agree often. Men never agree on what they want when they change the word of God.

If the translators of the New American Standard Version had been honest with their reader they would have translated sheol; it looks as if they were afraid to tell us the truth, but were did not want to lie by translating sheol into Hell so they used the Hebrew word knowing that many of there readers would understand sheol and Hell to the same place.

“The uniform substitution of ‘sheol’ for ‘the grave,’ ‘the pit,’ and ‘hell,’ in places where these terms have been retained by the English Revision, has little need of justification. The English Revisers use ‘Sheol’ twenty-nine times out of the sixty-fore in which it occurs in the original. No good reason has been given for such discrimination. If the new term can be fitly used at all, it is clear that it ought to be used uniformly” Preface to the American Standard Bible.

Obviously, if "sheol" means "Hell" it should never have been translated "grave" in the King James, or any other translations, for they are different places. It is also obvious that it cannot mean both.

W. E. Vine: "First, the word means the state of death. ‘ For in death, there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks' (Ps 6:5; cf. 18:5). It is the final resting place of all men: 'they spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave' Job 21:13...second, 'sheol' is used of a place of conscious existence after death" "Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary Of Old And New Testament Words," page 227. If, as he said, sheol is both:

Sheol is a place with no conscious existence after death-W. E. Vine.
Sheol is a place of conscious existence after death-W. E. Vine.

He could not (or anyone) ever know for sure when sheol was used the first or second way in any verse. How could they? Does everyone just use the one they want to? Although he is Protestant, this is not anything like the orthodox Protestant version of all going to directly to Heaven or Hell at death. He seems to have abandoned the orthodox Protestant view, and made many of the dead be in the grave.

First Vine said sheol is the state of death where there is no remembrance.
Second he used the same word for a place of conscious existence.

How does he think the same place could be both a place of death with no remembrance, and at the same time a place of life with conscious existence, but not life in Heaven or Hell? He is speaking of conscious existence in sheol-the grave after death; therefore, he is saying the orthodox Protestant view of all being transported instantaneous to Heaven or Hell at death is not true. He tries to prove the second with Genesis 3:7-35 "I will go down to sheol in mourning for my son" New American Standard Version. The New Century Version says, "unto the day I die." "You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; neither will thou allow your holy one to undergo decay" (Psalm 16:10 New American Standard Version). "And lie silent in the grave" (Psalm 31:17 New International Version). "As heat and drought snatch away the melted snow, so the grave snatches away those who have sinned" (Job 24:19 New International Version). "So MAN lies down and does not roused from their sleep. If only you would hide ME in the grave" (Job 14:12-13 New International Version). It is man that lies down in sleep, not an immaterial part of man; Job wanted God to hide him (“me”) in the grave, not just his body while the real Job was in Heaven. In the very verses W. E. Vine uses to prove his second use of the word, God could not be saying the first any clearer. In these passages and others, it is so certain and undeniable that sheol is the grave that many (like W. E. Vine) had to create a new sheol. A different gospel is preached with two sheols (or hades). One for the body to "sleep" in from death unto the resurrection, and one for the soul (or the living dead) to "live" in from death unto the resurrection; and then a third place must be added for the lost to be tormented in forever after the Judgment Day.

Summary: The King James translators tried to put the preconceived belief of Hell in the Bible by mistranslating sheol, but could not consistently conceal the truth in all 65 times sheol is used. If they had:

1. They would have put all mankind in Hell: They found it impossible to translate sheol into Hell every time it is used. If they had been consistent in their mistranslation, they would have put the righteous in Hell. All go to sheol at death. Even with all their mistranslating, they sometimes ended up with the righteous in Hell.

Jacob goes to Hell (sheol). Genesis 37:35 "For I will go down to Hell (sheol) to my son mourning."

Job prayed to go to Hell (sheol) (Job 14:13). He was praying to go to the grave where his suffering would end, not to a place where his suffering would be increased many times over and would last forever. The translators of the King James Version know it would have been absurd to have job praying to go to Hell.

"My soul is full of troubles: and my life draws nigh unto the Hell" (sheol-grave in King James Version). Psalm 88:3. Sheol (the grave-a quiet place of unconsciousness sleep where both the righteous and the wicked go) is the nearest thing to today's Hell that the translators could find, and then could translate it Hell less than half the time. For the thousands of years of the Old Testament, God told no one about a place called Hell.

2. They would have made a resurrection from Hell: They would have caused themselves a problem by making some be resurrected from Hell. (1 Samuel 2:6; Job 21:23:32; 30:23; Psalm 30:3; 49:15: 86:13; Hosea 13:14; Nahum 1:14). All go to sheol. If sheol were Hell, any resurrection, even at the second coming of Christ, would have to be a resurrection from Hell. "But God will redeem my soul from the power of the Hell" (sheol-translated grave in King James Version) Psalm 49:14-15.

3. They would have made those in Hell completely unconscious with "no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Hell (sheol-grave) where you go" (Ecclesiastes 9:10). Did they know that a person with no knowledge would not know he was being tormented?

WHERE ARE THE DEAD?

(1) According to the King James Version:

(a) It sometimes puts all the dead in sheol (the grave) with none in Heaven or Hell.

(b) It sometimes put the dead in Hell.

(e) It puts none of those in sheol (grave) in Heaven, not even David, Abraham, or Job.

(d) It sometimes puts all the dead in Hell. If sheol is Hell as it is translated in the King James Version, all instantly go to Hell at death and none to Heaven. Even Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob went to the Hell of the King James Version and their spirit could not have "returned to God." In trying to put the evil persons in Hell, they had trouble keeping the good out of it. The King James translators did put the name Hell in the Bible by mistranslating, but could not put in today's concept of Hell.

(2) According to the Old Testament (most translations): All the dead are in the grave. The way sheol is used in the Old Testament it cannot be made to fit the Catholic, or Protestant versions of Hell for if all go to sheol at death, no one could go to Heaven or Hell at death. The Hebrews believed that all, both good and evil together went to sheol (the grave) when they died. Examples: "You shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave" (Genesis 37:35; 42:38; 44:29). "O that you would hide me in the grave" (Job 14:13). Not one of the sixty-five times "sheol" is used does it teach the Protestant version of Hell. "Nowhere in the Old Testament is the abode of the dead regarded as a place of punishment or torment." The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, page 788.

(3) According to most Protestants and Catholics: Everyone will be in Heaven or Hell before and without the resurrection. Not all together in sheol, many Protestants put all, even everyone that lived under the Old Testament in Heaven or Hell instantly at death. If the “soul” of all goes to Heaven or Hell at death, no “soul” had ever been in sheol or Abraham’s bosom or ever will be. There would be no time when they could be. All the passages in the King James Version where the translators translated sheol sometimes grave and sometimes Hell would be worse than meaningless; they would be untruthful,

For the King James Version puts all, both the good and the evil together,

Sometimes all together in the grave

Sometimes all together in Hell.

Sheol is translated "down to the grave" one time and "down to hell" two times in the same passage (Ezekiel 31:15-17). Why such inconsistency? The Septuagint, a Greek version of the Old Testament made in the third century B. C. translated the Hebrew "sheol" into Greek "hades." These Hebrew scholars put all (both the righteous and the unrighteous) together in hades, just as both are together in sheol in the Hebrew Old Testament. Did the King James translators know more about the Hebrew language than the Hebrews? Why did they tell God He was wrong when He put both together in one place - sheol? The reason is obvious; they had to put some in Hell. They did a poor job of it for by their mistranslating they put some of those in sheol in Hell, but could not put some in Heaven. They had to leave them in sheol where God put them for they could not translate sheol into Heaven in any passages.

(4) According to many Protestants: All return to God in Heaven at death, both the saved and the lost. At death the spirit of all "will return to God who gave it" (Ecclesiastes 12:7). If the spirit or the soul is the only part(s) of a person that lives after the death of the body, and "The spirit returns to God who gives it," then the soul never goes to sheol or hades; therefore, if there were a place under the earth called "sheol" no person ever goes to it. Sheol could not be the receptacle, or the place of abode of disembodied spirits if the spirit returns to God in Heaven at death. None could be in Hell if at death all return to God in Heaven. Today's theology repeatedly makes the Bible speak of a place that does not exist. Nevertheless, we are repeatedly told the saved go to Heaven at death, and the lost go to Hell at death. The same preachers put the dead in three places simultaneously.

The spirit of all returns to God.
Or does all the dead go to sheol which is believed by many to be somewhere under the earth.
Or does all the souls of the saved go directly to Heaven at death, and the souls of the lost go directly to Hell at death.

(5) According to the Abraham's bosom version: Nor can sheol be made to fit the after judgment view. No one will be in Heaven or Hell at deat