Reference: Hell
American
The Hebrews SHEOL, and the Greek HADES, usually translated hell, often signify the place of departed spirits, Ps 16:10; Isa 14:9; Eze 31:16. Here was the rich man, after being buried, Lu 16:23. The above and many other passages in the Old Testament show the futility of that opinion which attributes to the Hebrews an ignorance of a future state.
The term hell is most commonly applied to the place of punishment in the unseen world, and is usually represented in the Greek New Testament by the word Gehenna, valley of Hinnom. See HINNOM. In 2Pe 2:4, the rebellious angels are said, in the original Greek, to have been cast down into "Tartarus," this being the Grecian name of the lowest abyss of Hades. Other expressions are also used, indicating the dreadfulness of the anguish there to be endured. It is called "outer darkness," "flame," "furnace of fire," "unquenchable fire," "fire and brimstone," etc., Mt 8:12; 13:42; 22:13; 25:20,41; Mr 9:43-48; Jg 1:13; Re 20:14. The misery of hell will consist in the privation of the vision and love of God, exclusion from every source of happiness, perpetual sin, remorse of conscience in view of the past, malevolent passions, the sense of the just anger of God, and all other sufferings of body and soul which in the nature of things are the natural results of sin, or which the law of God requires as penal inflictions. The degrees of anguish will be proportioned to the degrees of guilt, Mt 10:15; 23:14; Lu 12:47-48. And these punishments will be eternal, like the happiness of heaven. The wrath of God will never cease to abide upon the lost soul, and it will always be "the wrath to come."
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And Othniel son of Kenaz, younger brother of Caleb, doth capture it, and he giveth to him Achsah his daughter for a wife.
For Thou dost not leave my soul to Sheol, Nor givest thy saintly one to see corruption.
Sheol beneath hath been troubled at thee, To meet thy coming in, It is waking up for thee Rephaim, All chiefs ones of earth, It hath raised up from their thrones All kings of nations.
From the sound of his fall I have caused nations to shake, In My causing him to go down to sheol, With those going down to the pit, And comforted in the earth -- the lower part, are all trees of Eden, The choice and the good of Lebanon, All drinking waters.
but the sons of the reign shall be cast forth to the outer darkness -- there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of the teeth.'
verily I say to you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city.
and shall cast them to the furnace of the fire; there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of the teeth.
'Then said the king to the ministrants, Having bound his feet and hands, take him up and cast forth to the outer darkness, there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of the teeth;
'Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye eat up the houses of the widows, and for a pretence make long prayers, because of this ye shall receive more abundant judgment.
and he who did receive the five talents having come, brought other five talents, saying, 'Sir, five talents thou didst deliver to me; lo, other five talents did I gain besides them.
Then shall he say also to those on the left hand, Go ye from me, the cursed, to the fire, the age-during, that hath been prepared for the Devil and his messengers;
And if thy hand may cause thee to stumble, cut it off; it is better for thee maimed to enter into the life, than having the two hands, to go away to the gehenna, to the fire -- the unquenchable -- where their worm is not dying, and the fire is not being quenched. read more. And if thy foot may cause thee to stumble, cut it off; it is better for thee to enter into the life lame, than having the two feet to be cast to the gehenna, to the fire -- the unquenchable -- where their worm is not dying, and the fire is not being quenched. And if thine eye may cause thee to stumble, cast it out; it is better for thee one-eyed to enter into the reign of God, than having two eyes, to be cast to the gehenna of the fire -- where their worm is not dying, and the fire is not being quenched;
'And that servant, who having known his lord's will, and not having prepared, nor having gone according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes, and he who, not having known, and having done things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few; and to every one to whom much was given, much shall be required from him; and to whom they did commit much, more abundantly they will ask of him.
and in the hades having lifted up his eyes, being in torments, he doth see Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom,
For if God messengers who sinned did not spare, but with chains of thick gloom, having cast them down to Tartarus, did deliver them to judgment, having been reserved,
and the death and the hades were cast to the lake of the fire -- this is the second death;
Easton
derived from the Saxon helan, to cover; hence the covered or the invisible place. In Scripture there are three words so rendered:
(1.) Sheol, occurring in the Old Testament sixty-five times. This word sheol is derived from a root-word meaning "to ask," "demand;" hence insatiableness (Pr 30:15-16). It is rendered "grave" thirty-one times (Ge 37:35; 42:38; 44:29,31; 1Sa 2:6, etc.). The Revisers have retained this rendering in the historical books with the original word in the margin, while in the poetical books they have reversed this rule.
In thirty-one cases in the Authorized Version this word is rendered "hell," the place of disembodied spirits. The inhabitants of sheol are "the congregation of the dead" (Pr 21:16). It is (a) the abode of the wicked (Nu 16:33; Job 24:19; Ps 9:17; 31:17, etc.); (b) of the good (Ps 16:10; 30:3; 49:15; 86:13, etc.).
Sheol is described as deep (Job 11:8), dark (Job 10:21-22), with bars (Job 17:16). The dead "go down" to it (Nu 16:30,33; Eze 31:15-16,17).
(2.) The Greek word hades of the New Testament has the same scope of signification as sheol of the Old Testament. It is a prison (1Pe 3:19), with gates and bars and locks (Mt 16:18; Re 1:18), and it is downward (Mt 11:23; Lu 10:15).
The righteous and the wicked are separated. The blessed dead are in that part of hades called paradise (Lu 23:43). They are also said to be in Abraham's bosom (Lu 16:22).
(3.) Gehenna, in most of its occurrences in the Greek New Testament, designates the place of the lost (Mt 23:33). The fearful nature of their condition there is described in various figurative expressions (Mt 8:12; 13:42; 22:13; 25:30; Lu 16:24, etc.). (See Hinnom.)
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and all his sons and all his daughters rise to comfort him, and he refuseth to comfort himself, and saith, 'For -- I go down mourning unto my son, to Sheol,' and his father weepeth for him.
and he saith, 'My son doth not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he by himself is left; when mischief hath met him in the way in which ye go, then ye have brought down my grey hairs in sorrow to sheol.'
when ye have taken also this from my presence, and mischief hath met him, then ye have brought down my grey hairs with evil to sheol.
then it hath come to pass when he seeth that the youth is not, that he hath died, and thy servants have brought down the grey hairs of thy servant our father with sorrow to sheol;
and if a strange thing Jehovah do, and the ground hath opened her mouth and swallowed them, and all that they have, and they have gone down alive to Sheol -- then ye have known that these men have despised Jehovah.'
and they go down, they, and all that they have, alive to Sheol, and the earth closeth over them, and they perish from the midst of the assembly;
and they go down, they, and all that they have, alive to Sheol, and the earth closeth over them, and they perish from the midst of the assembly;
Before I go, and return not, Unto a land of darkness and death-shade, A land of obscurity as thick darkness, Death-shade -- and no order, And the shining is as thick darkness.'
Heights of the heavens! -- what dost thou? Deeper than Sheol! -- what knowest thou?
To the parts of Sheol ye go down, If together on the dust we may rest.
Drought -- also heat -- consume snow-waters, Sheol those who have sinned.
The wicked do turn back to Sheol, All nations forgetting God.
For Thou dost not leave my soul to Sheol, Nor givest thy saintly one to see corruption.
Jehovah, Thou hast brought up from Sheol my soul, Thou hast kept me alive, From going down to the pit.
O Jehovah, let me not be ashamed, For I have called Thee, let the wicked be ashamed, Let them become silent to Sheol.
Only, God doth ransom my soul from the hand of Sheol, For He doth receive me. Selah.
For Thy kindness is great toward me, And Thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest Sheol.
A man who is wandering from the way of understanding, In an assembly of Rephaim resteth.
To the leech are two daughters, 'Give, give, Lo, three things are not satisfied, Four have not said 'Sufficiency;' Sheol, and a restrained womb, Earth -- it is not satisfied with water, And fire -- it hath not said, 'Sufficiency,'
Thus said the Lord Jehovah: In the day of his going down to sheol I have caused mourning, I have covered for him the deep, and diminish its flowings, And restrained are many waters, And I make Lebanon black for him, And all trees of the field have been covered for him. From the sound of his fall I have caused nations to shake, In My causing him to go down to sheol, With those going down to the pit, And comforted in the earth -- the lower part, are all trees of Eden, The choice and the good of Lebanon, All drinking waters. read more. Also they with him have gone down to sheol, Unto the pierced of the sword, And -- his arm -- they dwelt in his shade in the midst of nations.
but the sons of the reign shall be cast forth to the outer darkness -- there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of the teeth.'
'And thou, Capernaum, which unto the heaven wast exalted, unto hades shalt be brought down, because if in Sodom had been done the mighty works that were done in thee, it had remained unto this day;
and shall cast them to the furnace of the fire; there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of the teeth.
'And I also say to thee, that thou art a rock, and upon this rock I will build my assembly, and gates of Hades shall not prevail against it;
'Then said the king to the ministrants, Having bound his feet and hands, take him up and cast forth to the outer darkness, there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of the teeth;
'Serpents! brood of vipers! how may ye escape from the judgment of the gehenna?
and the unprofitable servant cast ye forth to the outer darkness; there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of the teeth.
'And thou, Capernaum, which unto the heaven wast exalted, unto hades thou shalt be brought down.
And it came to pass, that the poor man died, and that he was carried away by the messengers to the bosom of Abraham -- and the rich man also died, and was buried;
and having cried, he said, Father Abraham, deal kindly with me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and may cool my tongue, because I am distressed in this flame.
and Jesus said to him, 'Verily I say to thee, To-day with me thou shalt be in the paradise.'
in which also to the spirits in prison having gone he did preach,
and he who is living, and I did become dead, and, lo, I am living to the ages of the ages. Amen! and I have the keys of the hades and of the death.
Fausets
Representing two distinct words: Gehenna and Hades (Greek), Sheol (Hebrew). Gehenna) is strictly "the valley of Hinnom" (Jos 15:8; Ne 11:30); "the valley of the children of Hinnom" (2Ki 23:10); "the valley of the son of Hinnom" (2Ch 28:3); "the valley of dead bodies," or Tophet, where malefactors' dead bodies were cast, S. of the city (Jer 31:40). A deep narrow glen S. of Jerusalem, where, after Ahaz introduced the worship of the fire gods, the sun, Baal, Moloch, the Jews under Manasseh made their children to pass through the fire (2Ch 33:6), and offered them as burntofferings (Jer 7:31; 19:2-6). So the godly Josiah defiled the valley, making it a receptacle of carcass and criminals' corpses, in which worms were continually gendering.
A perpetual fire was kept to consume this putrefying matter; hence it became the image of that awful place where all that are unfit for the holy city are cast out a prey to the ever gnawing "worm" of conscience from within and the "unquenchable fire" of torments from without. Mr 9:42-50, "their worm dieth not." implies that not only the worm but they also on whom it preys die not; the language is figurative, but it represents corresponding realities never yet experienced, and therefore capable of being conveyed to us only by figures. The phrase "forever and ever " (eis tous aionas aioonoon) occurs 20 times in New Testament: 16 times of God, once of the saints' future blessedness, the three remaining of the punishment of the wicked and of the evil one: is it likely it is used 17 times of absolute eternity, yet three times of limited eternity?
The term for "everlasting" (aidiois) in Jg 1:6, "the angels who kept not their first estate He hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day," is from a word meaning absolutely "always" (aei). Gehenna is used by our Lord Jesus (Mt 5:29-30; 10:28; 23:15,33; Lu 12:5); with the addition "of fire," Mt 5:22; 18:9; Mr 9:47; and by James (Jas 3:6). Our present meaning of "hell" then applies to Gehenna, but not to the other word Hades or Sheol. "Hell" formerly did apply when the KJV of the Bible was written; it then meant "hole," "hollow," or unseen place.
Sheol comes from a root "to make hollow," the common receptacle of the dead below the earth (Nu 16:30; De 32:22), deep (Job 11:8), insatiable (Isa 5:14; Song 8:6). "Hell," Hades, often means the "grave" (Job 14:13). In the Old Testament time, when as yet Christ had not "abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel" (2Ti 1:10), death and the intermediate state represented by Hades suggested thoughts of gloom (as to Hezekiah, Isa 38:9-20), lit up however with gleams of sure hope from God's promises of the resurrection (Ps 16:10-11; 17:15; Isa 26:19; Ho 13:14; Da 12:2). Hints too occur of the spirit's being with God in peace in the intermediate state (Ec 3:21; 12:7; Ps 23:6; 139:8; Isa 57:2).
The passages which represent Hades and the grave as a place where God can no longer be praised mean simply that the physical powers are all suspended, so that God's peruses can be no longer set forth on earth among the living. The anomalous state in which man is unclothed of the body is repulsive to the mind, and had not yet the clear gospel light to make it attractive as Paul viewed it (Php 1:21-23; 2Co 5:6-8). To the bad Hades was depicted as a place of punishment, where God's wrath reached to the depths (De 32:22; Am 9:2; Ps 9:17; 49:14; Isaiah 14). Thus, the unseen state even in Old Testament was regarded as having a distinction between the godly and the ungodly; Pr 14:32, "the wicked is driven away in his wickedness, but the righteous hath hope in his death"; so Psalm 1.
This is further confirmed by the separation of the rich man and Lazarus, the former in "hell" (Hades), the latter in "Abraham's bosom" (Lu 16:23), and in the penitent thief's soul going to be with Jesus in "paradise," the word implying the recovery in heavenly bliss of the paradise lost by Adam (Lu 23:43). "Tartarus," the pagan Greek term for the place of enchainment of the Titans, rebels against God, occurs in 2Pe 2:4 of the lost angels; the "deep," or "abyss," or "bottomless pit," (abussos) Lu 8:31; Re 9:11. The firm faith and hope of an abiding heavenly city is unequivocally attributed to the patriarchs (Heb 11:16-35);. so all the believing Israelites (Ac 26:7; 23:6-9). Hades, "hell," is used for destruction (Mt 11:23; 16:18). Jesus has its keys, and will at last consign it to the lake of fire which is the second death; implying that Christ and His people shall never again be disembodied spirits.
Re 1:18; 20:13-14; I can release at will from the unseen world of spirits, the anomalous state wherein the soul is severed from the body. The "spirits in prison" (1Pe 3:19) mean the ungodly antediluvians shut up in this earth, one vast prison, and under sentence of death and awaiting execution (Isa 24:22); not the prison of Hades. (See SPIRITS IN PRISON.) It is solemnly significant of the certainty of hell that He who is Love itself has most plainly and fully warned men of it, that they may flee from it. Tophet, the scene of human immolations by fire to Moloch amidst sounds of drums (tof) to drown the cries of the victims, symbolized the funeral pyre of Sennacherib's Assyrian army, and finally the lake of fire that shall burn for ever the lost (Isa 30:33). (See TOPHET.)
In an Assyrian tablet of the goddess Ishtar, daughter of Sin, the moon goddess, Hades is described as having seven gates," the house of the departed, the house from within which is no exit, the road the course of which never returns, the place within which they long for light, where dust is their nourishment and their food mud, light is never seen, in darkness they dwell, spirits like birds fill its vaults, over the door and its bolts is scattered dust!" What a contrast to the gospel (2Ti 1:10).
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and if a strange thing Jehovah do, and the ground hath opened her mouth and swallowed them, and all that they have, and they have gone down alive to Sheol -- then ye have known that these men have despised Jehovah.'
For a fire hath been kindled in Mine anger, And it burneth unto Sheol -- the lowest, And consumeth earth and its increase, And setteth on fire foundations of mountains.
For a fire hath been kindled in Mine anger, And it burneth unto Sheol -- the lowest, And consumeth earth and its increase, And setteth on fire foundations of mountains.
and the border hath gone up the valley of the son of Hinnom, unto the side of the Jebusite on the south (it is Jerusalem), and the border hath gone up unto the top of the hill-country which is on the front of the valley of Hinnom westward, which is in the extremity of the valley of the Rephaim northward;
And Adoni-Bezek fleeth, and they pursue after him, and seize him, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes,
And he hath defiled Topheth, that is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, so that no man doth cause his son and his daughter to pass over through fire to Molech.
and himself hath made perfume in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burneth his sons with fire according to the abominations of the nations that Jehovah dispossessed from the presence of the sons of Israel,
And he hath caused his sons to pass over through fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and observed clouds and used enchantments and witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and a wizard; he hath multiplied to do the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, to provoke him to anger.
Zanoah, Adullam, and their villages, Lachish and its fields, Azekah and its small towns; and they encamp from Beer-Sheba unto the valley of Hinnom.
Heights of the heavens! -- what dost thou? Deeper than Sheol! -- what knowest thou?
O that in Sheol Thou wouldest conceal me, Hide me till the turning of Thine anger, Set for me a limit, and remember me.
The wicked do turn back to Sheol, All nations forgetting God.
For Thou dost not leave my soul to Sheol, Nor givest thy saintly one to see corruption. Thou causest me to know the path of life; Fulness of joys is with Thy presence, Pleasant things by Thy right hand for ever!
I -- in righteousness, I see Thy face; I am satisfied, in awaking, with Thy form!
Only -- goodness and kindness pursue me, All the days of my life, And my dwelling is in the house of Jehovah, For a length of days!
As sheep for Sheol they have set themselves, Death doth afflict them, And the upright rule over them in the morning, And their form is for consumption. Sheol is a dwelling for him.
If I ascend the heavens -- there Thou art, And spread out a couch in Sheol, lo, Thee!
In his wickedness is the wicked driven away, And trustful in his death is the righteous.
Who knoweth the spirit of the sons of man that is going up on high, and the spirit of the beast that is going down below to the earth?
And the dust returneth to the earth as it was, And the spirit returneth to God who gave it.
Set me as a seal on thy heart, as a seal on thine arm, For strong as death is love, Sharp as Sheol is jealousy, Its burnings are burnings of fire, a flame of Jah!
Therefore hath Sheol enlarged herself, And hath opened her mouth without limit. And gone down hath its honour, and its multitude, And its noise, and its exulting one -- into her.
And they have been gathered -- A gathering of bound ones in a pit, And shut up they have been in a prison, And after a multitude of days are inspected.
Thy dead live -- My dead body they rise. Awake and sing, ye dwellers in the dust, For the dew of herbs is thy dew, And the land of Rephaim thou causest to fall.
For, arranged from former time is Tophet, Even it for the king is prepared, He hath made deep, He hath made large, Its pile is fire and much wood, The breath of Jehovah, As a stream of brim stone, is burning in it!
A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah concerning his being sick, when he reviveth from his sickness: I -- I said in the cutting off of my days, I go in to the gates of Sheol, I have numbered the remnant of mine years. read more. I said, I do not see Jah -- Jah! In the land of the living, I do not behold man any more, With the inhabitants of the world. My sojourning hath departed, And been removed from me as a shepherd's tent, I have drawn together, as a weaver, my life, By weakness it cutteth me off, From day unto night Thou dost end me. I have set Him till morning as a lion, So doth He break all my bones, From day unto night Thou dost end me. As a crane -- a swallow -- so I chatter, I mourn as a dove, Drawn up have been mine eyes on high, O Jehovah, oppression is on me, be my surety. -- What do I say? seeing He said to me, And He Himself hath wrought, I go softly all my years for the bitterness of my soul. Lord, by these do men live, And by all in them is the life of my spirit, And Thou savest me, make me also to live, Lo, to peace He changed for me bitterness, And Thou hast delighted in my soul without corruption, For Thou hast cast behind Thy back all my sins. For Sheol doth not confess Thee, Death doth not praise Thee, Those going down to the pit hope not for Thy truth. The living, the living, he doth confess Thee. Like myself to-day -- a father to sons Doth make known of Thy faithfulness, O Jehovah -- to save me: And my songs we sing all days of our lives In the house of Jehovah.'
He entereth into peace, they rest on their beds, Each is going straightforward.
And have built the high places of Tophet, That are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, To burn their sons and their daughters with fire, Which I did not command, Nor did it come up on My heart.
and thou hast gone forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, that is at the opening of the gate of the pottery, and hast proclaimed there the words that I speak unto thee, and hast said, Hear a word of Jehovah, ye kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem, Thus said Jehovah of Hosts, God of Israel: 'Lo, I am bringing in evil on this place, at which the ears of every one who is hearing it do tingle, read more. because that they have forsaken Me, and make known this place, and make perfume in it to other gods, that they knew not, they and their fathers, and the kings of Judah, and they have filled this place with innocent blood, and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons with fire, burnt-offerings to Baal, that I commanded not, nor spake of, nor did it come up on My heart. Therefore, lo, days are coming -- an affirmation of Jehovah -- and this place is not called any more, Tophet, and Valley of the son of Hinnom, but, Valley of slaughter.
And all the valley of the carcases and of the ashes, And all the fields unto the brook Kidron, Unto the corner of the horse-gate eastward, Are holy to Jehovah, it is not plucked up, Nor is it thrown down any more to the age!
And the multitude of those sleeping in the dust of the ground do awake, some to life age-during, and some to reproaches -- to abhorrence age-during.
From the hand of Sheol I do ransom them, From death I redeem them, Where is thy plague, O death? Where thy destruction, O Sheol? Repentance is hid from Mine eyes.
If they dig through into sheol, From thence doth My hand take them, And if they go up the heavens, From thence I cause them to come down.
but I -- I say to you, that every one who is angry at his brother without cause, shall be in danger of the judgment, and whoever may say to his brother, Empty fellow! shall be in danger of the sanhedrim, and whoever may say, Rebel! shall be in danger of the gehenna of the fire.
'But, if thy right eye doth cause thee to stumble, pluck it out and cast from thee, for it is good to thee that one of thy members may perish, and not thy whole body be cast to gehenna. 'And, if thy right hand doth cause thee to stumble, cut it off, and cast from thee, for it is good to thee that one of thy members may perish, and not thy whole body be cast to gehenna.
'And be not afraid of those killing the body, and are not able to kill the soul, but fear rather Him who is able both soul and body to destroy in gehenna.
'And thou, Capernaum, which unto the heaven wast exalted, unto hades shalt be brought down, because if in Sodom had been done the mighty works that were done in thee, it had remained unto this day;
'And I also say to thee, that thou art a rock, and upon this rock I will build my assembly, and gates of Hades shall not prevail against it;
'And if thine eye doth cause thee to stumble, pluck it out and cast from thee; it is good for thee one-eyed to enter into the life, rather than having two eyes to be cast to the gehenna of the fire.
Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye go round the sea and the dry land to make one proselyte, and whenever it may happen -- ye make him a son of gehenna twofold more than yourselves.
'Serpents! brood of vipers! how may ye escape from the judgment of the gehenna?
and whoever may cause to stumble one of the little ones believing in me, better is it for him if a millstone is hanged about his neck, and he hath been cast into the sea. And if thy hand may cause thee to stumble, cut it off; it is better for thee maimed to enter into the life, than having the two hands, to go away to the gehenna, to the fire -- the unquenchable -- read more. where their worm is not dying, and the fire is not being quenched. And if thy foot may cause thee to stumble, cut it off; it is better for thee to enter into the life lame, than having the two feet to be cast to the gehenna, to the fire -- the unquenchable -- where their worm is not dying, and the fire is not being quenched. And if thine eye may cause thee to stumble, cast it out; it is better for thee one-eyed to enter into the reign of God, than having two eyes, to be cast to the gehenna of the fire --
And if thine eye may cause thee to stumble, cast it out; it is better for thee one-eyed to enter into the reign of God, than having two eyes, to be cast to the gehenna of the fire -- where their worm is not dying, and the fire is not being quenched; read more. for every one with fire shall be salted, and every sacrifice with salt shall be salted. The salt is good, but if the salt may become saltless, in what will ye season it? Have in yourselves salt, and have peace in one another.'
and he was calling on him, that he may not command them to go away to the abyss,
but I will show to you, whom ye may fear; Fear him who, after the killing, is having authority to cast to the gehenna; yes, I say to you, Fear ye Him.
and in the hades having lifted up his eyes, being in torments, he doth see Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom,
and Jesus said to him, 'Verily I say to thee, To-day with me thou shalt be in the paradise.'
and Paul having known that the one part are Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, cried out in the sanhedrim, 'Men, brethren, I am a Pharisee -- son of a Pharisee -- concerning hope and rising again of dead men I am judged.' And he having spoken this, there came a dissension of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees, and the crowd was divided, read more. for Sadducees, indeed, say there is no rising again, nor messenger, nor spirit, but Pharisees confess both. And there came a great cry, and the scribes of the Pharisees' part having arisen, were striving, saying, 'No evil do we find in this man; and if a spirit spake to him, or a messenger, we may not fight against God;'
to which our twelve tribes, intently night and day serving, do hope to come, concerning which hope I am accused, king Agrippa, by the Jews;
for to me to live is Christ, and to die gain. And if to live in the flesh is to me a fruit of work, then what shall I choose? I know not; read more. for I am pressed by the two, having the desire to depart, and to be with Christ, for it is far better,
and was made manifest now through the manifestation of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who indeed did abolish death, and did enlighten life and immortality through the good news,
and was made manifest now through the manifestation of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who indeed did abolish death, and did enlighten life and immortality through the good news,
but now they long for a better, that is, an heavenly, wherefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God, for He did prepare for them a city. By faith Abraham hath offered up Isaac, being tried, and the only begotten he did offer up who did receive the promises, read more. of whom it was said -- 'In Isaac shall a seed be called to thee;' reckoning that even out of the dead God is able to raise up, whence also in a figure he did receive him. By faith, concerning coming things, Isaac did bless Jacob and Esau; by faith Jacob dying -- each of the sons of Joseph did bless, and did bow down upon the top of his staff; by faith, Joseph dying, concerning the outgoing of the sons of Israel did make mention, and concerning his bones did give command. By faith Moses, having been born, was hid three months by his parents, because they saw the child comely, and were not afraid of the decree of the king; by faith Moses, having become great, did refuse to be called a son of the daughter of Pharaoh, having chosen rather to be afflicted with the people of God, than to have sin's pleasure for a season, greater wealth having reckoned the reproach of the Christ than the treasures in Egypt, for he did look to the recompense of reward; by faith he left Egypt behind, not having been afraid of the wrath of the king, for, as seeing the Invisible One -- he endured; by faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of the blood, that He who is destroying the first-born might not touch them. By faith they did pass through the Red Sea as through dry land, which the Egyptians having received a trial of, were swallowed up; by faith the walls of Jericho did fall, having been surrounded for seven days; by faith Rahab the harlot did not perish with those who disbelieved, having received the spies with peace. And what shall I yet say? for the time will fail me recounting about Gideon, Barak also, and Samson, and Jephthah, David also, and Samuel, and the prophets, who through faith did subdue kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the mouth of the sword, were made powerful out of infirmities, became strong in battle, caused to give way camps of the aliens. Women received by a rising again their dead, and others were tortured, not accepting the redemption, that a better rising again they might receive,
and the tongue is a fire, the world of the unrighteousness, so the tongue is set in our members, which is spotting our whole body, and is setting on fire the course of nature, and is set on fire by the gehenna.
in which also to the spirits in prison having gone he did preach,
For if God messengers who sinned did not spare, but with chains of thick gloom, having cast them down to Tartarus, did deliver them to judgment, having been reserved,
and he who is living, and I did become dead, and, lo, I am living to the ages of the ages. Amen! and I have the keys of the hades and of the death.
and they have over them a king -- the messenger of the abyss -- a name is to him in Hebrew, Abaddon, and in the Greek he hath a name, Apollyon.
and the sea did give up those dead in it, and the death and the hades did give up the dead in them, and they were judged, each one according to their works; and the death and the hades were cast to the lake of the fire -- this is the second death;
Hastings
Morish
In the A.V. this is the translation of
1. sheol, which is often translated, 'grave,' and three times it is 'pit.' It refers to an invisible place or state, which may have several applications, according to the connection of each passage. Korah and his company and their houses went down into 'sheol.' Nu 16:33. Jonah said, "Out of the belly of 'sheol' cried I" Jon 2:2. "The wicked shall be turned into sheol." Ps 9:17. "Let them go down quick into 'sheol,' for wickedness is in their dwellings." Ps 55:15; Pr 7:27. But for the redemption which faith looked for 'sheol' must have had to O.T. saints the character of eternal punishment, and so finally 'hades' will be cast into the lake of fire. The word also refers to the place of departed spirits. The Lord said, "Thou wilt not leave my soul in 'sheol.'" Ps 16:10. This signification corresponds with
2. ????, hades, which occurs where this last passage is quoted in Ac 2:27,31; and has the same meaning in other passages: Mt 11:23; 16:18; Lu 16:23; Re 1:18; 6:8; 20:13-14.
3. ??????, Gehenna, the Greek equivalent for two Hebrew words, signifying 'valley of Hinnom.' It was the place near Jerusalem where the Jews made their children pass through fire to heathen gods, and which was afterwards defiled. 2Ki 23:10. A continual fire made it a fit emblem of the place of eternal punishment. Mt 5:22,29-30; 10:28; 18:9; 23:15,33; Mr 9:43,45,47; Lu 12:5; Jas 3:6. The above-named place of defilement and fire is also called in the O.T. TOPHET or TOPHETH. 2Ki 23:10; Isa 30:33; Jer 19:13.
4. ????????, 'to cast into Tartarus,' a term used by heathen writers for the 'deepest abyss of the infernal regions,' a place of extreme darkness. 2Pe 2:4: cf. 2Pe 2:17 and Jude 1:13.
Whatever figurative meaning there may be in the use of any of the above words, it is plain and certain from scripture that there is a place of everlasting punishment. It is awfully described as the LAKE OF FIRE, 'the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone.' Re 19:20; 20:10,15; 21:8. It was prepared for the devil and his angels, but into it the wicked also will be cast. Mt 13:40,42; 25:41; 2Pe 2:4; Jude 1:6, etc. See ETERNAL.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
and they go down, they, and all that they have, alive to Sheol, and the earth closeth over them, and they perish from the midst of the assembly;
And he hath defiled Topheth, that is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, so that no man doth cause his son and his daughter to pass over through fire to Molech.
And he hath defiled Topheth, that is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, so that no man doth cause his son and his daughter to pass over through fire to Molech.
The wicked do turn back to Sheol, All nations forgetting God.
For Thou dost not leave my soul to Sheol, Nor givest thy saintly one to see corruption.
Desolations are upon them, They go down to Sheol -- alive, For wickedness is in their dwelling, in their midst.
The ways of Sheol -- her house, Going down unto inner chambers of death!
For, arranged from former time is Tophet, Even it for the king is prepared, He hath made deep, He hath made large, Its pile is fire and much wood, The breath of Jehovah, As a stream of brim stone, is burning in it!
and the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, have been -- as the place of Tophet -- defiled, even all the houses on whose roofs they have made perfume to all the host of the heavens, so as to pour out oblations to other gods.'
And he saith: I called, because of my distress, to Jehovah, And He doth answer me, From the belly of sheol I have cried, Thou hast heard my voice.
but I -- I say to you, that every one who is angry at his brother without cause, shall be in danger of the judgment, and whoever may say to his brother, Empty fellow! shall be in danger of the sanhedrim, and whoever may say, Rebel! shall be in danger of the gehenna of the fire.
'But, if thy right eye doth cause thee to stumble, pluck it out and cast from thee, for it is good to thee that one of thy members may perish, and not thy whole body be cast to gehenna. 'And, if thy right hand doth cause thee to stumble, cut it off, and cast from thee, for it is good to thee that one of thy members may perish, and not thy whole body be cast to gehenna.
'And be not afraid of those killing the body, and are not able to kill the soul, but fear rather Him who is able both soul and body to destroy in gehenna.
'And thou, Capernaum, which unto the heaven wast exalted, unto hades shalt be brought down, because if in Sodom had been done the mighty works that were done in thee, it had remained unto this day;
'As, then, the darnel is gathered up, and is burned with fire, so shall it be in the full end of this age,
and shall cast them to the furnace of the fire; there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of the teeth.
'And I also say to thee, that thou art a rock, and upon this rock I will build my assembly, and gates of Hades shall not prevail against it;
'And if thine eye doth cause thee to stumble, pluck it out and cast from thee; it is good for thee one-eyed to enter into the life, rather than having two eyes to be cast to the gehenna of the fire.
Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye go round the sea and the dry land to make one proselyte, and whenever it may happen -- ye make him a son of gehenna twofold more than yourselves.
'Serpents! brood of vipers! how may ye escape from the judgment of the gehenna?
Then shall he say also to those on the left hand, Go ye from me, the cursed, to the fire, the age-during, that hath been prepared for the Devil and his messengers;
And if thy hand may cause thee to stumble, cut it off; it is better for thee maimed to enter into the life, than having the two hands, to go away to the gehenna, to the fire -- the unquenchable --
And if thy foot may cause thee to stumble, cut it off; it is better for thee to enter into the life lame, than having the two feet to be cast to the gehenna, to the fire -- the unquenchable --
And if thine eye may cause thee to stumble, cast it out; it is better for thee one-eyed to enter into the reign of God, than having two eyes, to be cast to the gehenna of the fire --
but I will show to you, whom ye may fear; Fear him who, after the killing, is having authority to cast to the gehenna; yes, I say to you, Fear ye Him.
and in the hades having lifted up his eyes, being in torments, he doth see Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom,
because Thou wilt not leave my soul to hades, nor wilt Thou give Thy Kind One to see corruption;
having foreseen, he did speak concerning the rising again of the Christ, that his soul was not left to hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.
and the tongue is a fire, the world of the unrighteousness, so the tongue is set in our members, which is spotting our whole body, and is setting on fire the course of nature, and is set on fire by the gehenna.
For if God messengers who sinned did not spare, but with chains of thick gloom, having cast them down to Tartarus, did deliver them to judgment, having been reserved,
These are wells without water, and clouds by a tempest driven, to whom the thick gloom of the darkness to the age hath been kept;
messengers also, those who did not keep their own principality, but did leave their proper dwelling, to a judgment of a great day, in bonds everlasting, under darkness He hath kept,
wild waves of a sea, foaming out their own shames; stars going astray, to whom the gloom of the darkness to the age hath been kept.
and he who is living, and I did become dead, and, lo, I am living to the ages of the ages. Amen! and I have the keys of the hades and of the death.
and I saw, and lo, a pale horse, and he who is sitting upon him -- his name is Death, and Hades doth follow with him, and there was given to them authority to kill, (over the fourth part of the land,) with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and by the beasts of the land.
and the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet who did the signs before him, in which he led astray those who did receive the mark of the beast, and those who did bow before his image; living they were cast -- the two -- to the lake of the fire, that is burning with brimstone;
and the Devil, who is leading them astray, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where are the beast and the false prophet, and they shall be tormented day and night -- to the ages of the ages.
and the sea did give up those dead in it, and the death and the hades did give up the dead in them, and they were judged, each one according to their works; and the death and the hades were cast to the lake of the fire -- this is the second death; read more. and if any one was not found written in the scroll of the life, he was cast to the lake of the fire.
and to fearful, and unstedfast, and abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all the liars, their part is in the lake that is burning with fire and brimstone, which is a second death.'
Smith
Hell.
In the Old Testament this is the word generally and unfortunately used by our translators to render the Hebrew Sheol. It really means the place of the dead, the unseen world, without deciding whether it be the place of misery or of happiness. It is clear that in many passages of the Old Testament Sheol can only mean "the grave," and is rendered in the Authorized Version; see, for example,
Ge 37:35; 42:38; 1Sa 2:6; Job 14:13
In other passages, however, it seems to Involve a notion of punishment, and is therefore rendered in the Authorized Version by the word "hell." But in many cases this translation misleads the reader. In the New Testament "hell" is the translation of two words, Hades and Gehenna. The word Hades, like Sheol sometimes means merely "the grave,"
or in general "the unseen world." It is in this sense that the creeds say of our Lord, "He went down into hell," meaning the state of the dead in general, without any restriction of happiness or misery. Elsewhere in the New Testament Hades is used of a place of torment,
etc.; consequently it has been the prevalent, almost the universal, notion that Hades is an intermediate state between death and resurrection, divided into two parts one the abode of the blest and the other of the lost. It is used eleven times in the New Testament, and only once translated "grave."
The word most frequently used (occurring twelve times) in the New Testament for the place of future punishment is Gehenna or Gehenna of fire. This was originally the valley of Hinnom, south of Jerusalem, where the filth and dead animals of the city were cast out and burned; a fit symbol of the wicked and their destruction. [See HINNOM]
See Hinnom
See Verses Found in Dictionary
and all his sons and all his daughters rise to comfort him, and he refuseth to comfort himself, and saith, 'For -- I go down mourning unto my son, to Sheol,' and his father weepeth for him.
and he saith, 'My son doth not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he by himself is left; when mischief hath met him in the way in which ye go, then ye have brought down my grey hairs in sorrow to sheol.'
O that in Sheol Thou wouldest conceal me, Hide me till the turning of Thine anger, Set for me a limit, and remember me.
'And thou, Capernaum, which unto the heaven wast exalted, unto hades shalt be brought down, because if in Sodom had been done the mighty works that were done in thee, it had remained unto this day;
and in the hades having lifted up his eyes, being in torments, he doth see Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom,
having foreseen, he did speak concerning the rising again of the Christ, that his soul was not left to hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.
where, O Death, thy sting? where, O Hades, thy victory?'
and the sea did give up those dead in it, and the death and the hades did give up the dead in them, and they were judged, each one according to their works;
Watsons
HELL. This is a Saxon word, which is derived from a verb which signifies to hide or conceal. A late eminent Biblical critic, Dr. Campbell, has investigated this subject with his usual accuracy; and the following is the substance of his remarks. In the Hebrew Scriptures the word sheol frequently occurs, and uniformly, he thinks, denotes the state of the dead in general, without regard to the virtuous or vicious characters of the persons, their happiness or misery. In translating that word, the LXX have almost invariably used the Greek term ?????, hades, which means the receptacle of the dead, and ought rarely to have been translated hell, in the sense in which we now use it, namely, as the place of torment. To denote this latter object, the New Testament writers always make use of the Greek word ??????, which is compounded of two Hebrew words, Ge Hinnom, that is, "The Valley of Hinnom," a place near Jerusalem, in which children were cruelly sacrificed by fire to Moloch, the idol of the Ammonites, 2Ch 33:6. This place was also called Tophet, 2Ki 23:10, alluding, as is supposed, to the noise of drums, (toph signifying a drum,) there raised to drown the cries of helpless infants. As in process of time this place came to be considered as an emblem of hell, or the place of torment reserved for the punishment of the wicked in a future state, the name Tophet came gradually to be used in this sense, and at length to be confined to it. In this sense, also, the word gehenna, a synonymous term, is always to be understood in the New Testament, where it occurs about a dozen times. The confusion that has arisen on this subject has been occasioned not only by our English translators having rendered the Hebrew word sheol and the Greek word gehenna frequently by the term hell; but the Greek word hades, which occurs eleven times in the New Testament, is, in every instance, except one, translated by the same English word, which it ought never to have been. In the following passages of the Old Testament it seems, however, that a future world of wo is expressed by sheol: "They," the wicked, "spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to sheol," Job 21:13. "The wicked shall be turned into sheol, and all the nations that forget God," Ps 9:17-18. "Her feet go down to death, her steps take hold on sheol," Pr 5:5. "But he knoweth not that the ghosts are there, and that her guests are in the depths of sheol," Pr 9:18. "Thou shalt beat him with a rod, and shalt deliver his soul from sheol," Pr 23:14. Thus, as Stuart observes, in his "Essay on Future Punishment," while the Old Testament employs sheol, in most cases to designate the grave, the region of the dead, the place of departed spirits, it employs it also, in some cases, to designate along with this idea the adjunct one of the place of misery, place of punishment, region of wo. In this respect it accords fully with the New Testament use of hades. For though hades signifies the grave, and often the invisible region of separate spirits, without reference to their condition, yet, in Lu 16:23, "In hades ?? ?? ????, he lifted up his eyes, being in torments," it is clearly used for a place and condition of misery. The word hell is also used by our translators for gehenna, which means the world of future punishment, "How shall ye escape the damnation of hell, ??????? ??? ????????"
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And he hath defiled Topheth, that is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, so that no man doth cause his son and his daughter to pass over through fire to Molech.
And he hath caused his sons to pass over through fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and observed clouds and used enchantments and witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and a wizard; he hath multiplied to do the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, to provoke him to anger.
They wear out in good their days, And in a moment to Sheol go down.
The wicked do turn back to Sheol, All nations forgetting God. For not for ever is the needy forgotten, The hope of the humble lost to the age.
Her feet are going down to death, Sheol do her steps take hold of.
And he hath not known that Rephaim are there, In deep places of Sheol her invited ones!
Thou with a rod smitest him, And his soul from Sheol thou deliverest.
and in the hades having lifted up his eyes, being in torments, he doth see Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom,