We need to clearly understand “sheol” and “hades” and differentiate these from “hell” and “Gehenna,” and “the lake of fire.” There are some seeming contradictions we face when trying to define “Hell” as seen in the King James Bible Version. There is inherent misunderstanding in the subject and this only serves to complicate things. We need to resolve this first by looking at the balance of Scripture overall, in context, in order to confirm the proper Biblical understanding of these important terms.

First, the basic facts that are clearly borne out by the Scripture, seen in context, are these:

• FACT: Both the Hebrew “Sheol” of the Old Testament and the Greek “Hades” of the New Testament are to be properly transliterated as “the grave.”

The “grave” is the place of the intermediate state of all “the dead,” including both the believers and the unbelieving lost, until their resurrections. In what is considered the oldest book of the Bible, Job said;

“O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave (Heb. Sheol), that thou wouldest keep me secret (Heb. satar, hid), until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me! ¹⁴ If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait (in the grave), till my change come (by the resurrection that he must have foreseen). (Job 14:13-14)

All the regenerated (born-again) dead believers of today’s “dispensation of the grace of God” (Eph 3:2) “sleep” in “the grave,” but then they will be resurrected and changed, putting on their new incorruptible ‘spirit-body’ when they are “caught up” to “meet the Lord in the air” to dwell “eternal in the heavens.”

“(He) shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto (Gk. symmorphus) his glorious body” (Philip. 3:21a)

“In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we (who are alive) shall be changed. ⁵³ For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

⁵⁴ So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

⁵⁵ O death, where is thy sting? O grave (Grk, Hades), where is thy victory? (1 Cor. 15:52-55)

“For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle (body) were dissolved (decayed), we have a building of God, an house (spirit-body) not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” (2 Cor. 5:1)

Man’s death brings him to “sleep” in the “grave.” There, man is totally asleep, unconscious and unaware of anything until his awakening and resurrection comes. “… there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave (Heb Sheol), whither thou goest.” (Ecclesiastes 9:10b)

The Bible repeatedly says the dead in “the grave” are “asleep.” All who “sleep” in “the grave” will “awaken” in one of the three coming resurrections, which we will discuss in more detail in a later installment. The first of these resurrections is that of the members of “the church, which is His body.” (Eph 1:22b-23a)

“But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. ¹⁴ For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which ‘sleep in Jesus’ will God bring with him. ¹⁵ For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent (precede) them which are asleep. ¹⁶ For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: ¹⁷ Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. ¹⁸ Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)

• FACT: All the dead in “the grave” will be “resurrected” to their respective judgment. Their judgment will be followed by their ultimate eternal “reward” (1Cor. 3:14) of either “everlasting life” or “eternal destruction” (2Thes. 1:9) in Gehenna’s “lake of fire.”

“And many of them that ‘sleep’ in the dust of the earth shall ‘awake,’ some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt (irreconcilably condemned to eternal death).” (Dan. 12:2)

• FACT: The Greek “Gehenna” is always transliterated correctly as “Hell,” 12 times. It is the place of the final “2^nd death” of utter destruction. Thus “Gehenna” has a significantly different meaning than “the grave” of “Sheol” and “Hades.” Gehenna’s destruction is seen here as affecting “both soul and body in hell (Gehenna)”

Jesus said; “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell (Gehenna). (Matthew 10:28)

Then also we see that there is cause for confusion by the word “Hell” sometimes being mistakenly translated to English from the Hebrew “Sheol” and from the Greek “Hades,” which actually mean “the grave.”

• “Sheol” appears in the Bible 65 times, being translated correctly as “the grave” 31 times, and “the pit” 3 times. The Hebrew “Sheol” has been erroneously translated “Hell” 31 times.
• “Hades” in the N.T. is erroneously rendered as “Hell” ten times, then also correctly as “the grave” in 1Cor 15:55; “O grave (Grk, Hades), where is thy victory?”

The source of the problem is not with our oldest most Hebrew and Greek ‘Received Text’ from which the Bible was translated. It is consistently correct as relates “Sheol” and “Hades” referring to the intermediate state of “the grave.” But the ‘Text’ was mistranslated as “Hell” rather than “the grave” several times in the KJV. This is because the translators in the 1,600’s hadn’t yet settled on one concept for “Hell.” So, the translators used their own judgment to translate “Sheol” and “Hades” as “the grave” in some places and then “Hell” in others. This error has been corrected in many later translations.

Let’s look at some verses in their context to let the word confirm the correct meaning of Sheol and Hades.

Example #1: First we will establish the fact that the real “Hell” (Gk. Gehenna) is the place of the final destruction of the lost. Here below we see that Jesus clearly refers to the “Hell” (Gehenna), warning of it as the place where one will be completely eternally “destroyed,” both the “body and soul.”

“And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy (Gk. apollymi) both soul and body in hell (Gk. Gehenna). (Matthew 10:28 (KJV)

Example #2: Reading the verse below makes it clear that “Hades,” which is the temporary “intermediate state” in “the grave,” is mistakenly translated as “Hell” (vs. 13-14).

“¹³And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell (Gk. Hades, the grave) delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. ¹⁴And death and hell (Gk., Hades, the grave) were cast into “the lake of fire.” This is the second death. (Rev. 20:13-14 (KJV)

Read the verses again carefully and ask yourself; if “Hell” is the place of the “2^nd death” or final death in the “the lake of fire” (Rev 20:14), then how could “death and hell” (v13-14 below) be cast into the “Hell”?

This KJV mistranslation is an obvious contradiction that is easily explained when we note that the word “Hell” in the phrase “death and Hell” is actually the Greek word “Hades” meaning “the grave,” as it is properly seen in the oldest Received Text manuscripts and in my The Interlinear Literal Translation of Greek-English New Testament. So, Hades, “the grave” is not Gehenna’s hell. The fact is that the “2^nd death” (Rev. 20:6) is the final death of “the lost” in the “Hell (Gk. Gehenna)” that is also called “the lake of fire” (v14), where “death and the grave (Gk. Hades)” itself will also be “utterly destroyed.”

But, why would “Hades,” the intermediate state of “the grave,” be “cast into the lake of fire”?

Answer: At the end of all ages there will be no more sin and death and so there will be no need of “the grave” (Hades) to hold the dead unto their resurrections, so both “death and the grave” will be disposed of in “the lake of fire.”

Example #3: In the Book of Acts verses seen below, the word “Hell” is again mistakenly translated from both the Hebrew “Sheol” (Act 2:27) and also the Greek “Hades” (2:31), both actually meaning “the grave.” These obviously were meant to mean “the grave.” This is confirmed in the Greek Interlinear.

The “grave” here is the ‘place’ where the dead bodies and souls of all men go temporarily, and where corruption or decay of the physical flesh body occurs. Read and consider these verses.

“For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on ‘sleep,’ and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption (Gk. diaphthora, decay): ³⁷ But he, whom God raised again (Jesus), saw no corruption. (Acts 13:36-37)           

“²⁷ thou wilt not leave my (David’s) SOUL in hell (Heb. Sheol, “the grave”), neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. ³¹He (David) seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his (Jesus’) SOUL was NOT left in hell (Gk. hades, “the grave”), neither his flesh did see corruption. (Acts 2:27, 31)

Above we see that David “was laid unto His fathers,” obviously to “sleep” in his “grave,” there David’s body “saw corruption (decay)” (v36). Then note that David foresaw that Jesus’s body did not see “corruption” (v27, 37) as well as Jesus’ resurrection (v31) about 1,000 years before Jesus of Nazareth was born on earth.

We know that no lost person is able to survive and be raised after their final judgment and “eternal destruction” (2Thes 1:9) in the “Hell” (Grk, Gehenna). So “Hell” in v27 it must be “Hades” as seen in the Greek. As we’ve already established in Ex. #1 (above), Jesus, in Matt 10:28, correctly said “Hell (Grk, Gehenna)” is the place where God is able to “destroy both SOUL and body.”

FACT: “Gehenna” in the New Testament is often associated with the consuming fire of “Hell.” (cf. Matt 5:22; Matt 18:9; Mk 9: 43, 45, 47; James 3:6) and spoken of as a place of utter destruction of the body and SOUL (cf. Matt 5:29-30; Matt 10:28; Matt 18:9; Matt 23:15, 33; Mk 9:43, 45, 47; Lk 12:5).

“But I say unto you… Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.” (Matthew 5:22)

 “.. if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish (Gk. apollymi, be utterly destroyed), and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. ³⁰ And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell (Gehenna).” (Matt. 5:29-30)

Historically, the Greek word “Gehenna” is taken from the Hebrew “GeHinnon,” referring to a literal ravine or valley (Joshua 5:8) running along the south side of ancient Jerusalem. Google mapping still shows Geh Ben Hinnom St. in that area of Jerusalem. GeHinnon was used by Israelites as the literal trash dump where the remains of the non-edible portions of dead animals (per the Law) and other trash was burned to incineration; and for a period, it was used for human sacrifice by the Babylonians when they conquered Israel. The fires there burned continually. Jesus spoke of this place eleven times where it is rendered “Hell.” It is easy then to see that this garbage dump is the Biblical metaphor for the real “Hell” (Gehenna) as the place of the final and eternal destruction of “the lost” by incineration.

Therefore, “Hell” is NOT the place of “eternal torment” that religion has taught in order to threaten the faithful. Religionist have taken this view from widely held pagan beliefs proffered by the Greek philosophers, Plato and Socrates, and later others who brought it into the church in their age. It was largely used by religion to extort money from the faithful; saying one could thereby buy their way out of torment. Of course, we know the truth that Christ paid our sin-debt in full at the cross…for us.

“(Jesus) Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. (Romans 4:25)

“And he (Jesus) is the propitiation (propitiatory sacrificial payment) for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:2)

Thankfully, The Lord redeems (ransoms) all genuine believers of all ages from “death and the grave” by His shed blood at the cross… then resurrecting them from “the grave.”

“God will redeem my (David’s) SOUL from the power of the grave: for he shall receive me.” (Psalm 49:15)

“I (God) will ransom them from the power of the grave (Sheol); I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.” (Hos. 13:14)

The “power of the grave” is forever broken by the redemption we have “in Christ” Then the last enemies of life, “death and the grave (Gk. hades),” will be eliminated in “the lake of fire,” no longer being needed since nobody will ever die again. (cf. Rev. 20:13-14)

“The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” (1 Corinthians 15:26)