What Does the Bible Say about Sheol?

This is the second of several entries to accompany my current Judgment series of sermons. My aim is to provide detail concerning terms and ideas related to Judgment that will not be covered in detail in the sermons.

Sheol:
Depending on the Bible translation you use, you may have run into the term Sheol in the Old Testament (OT). Sheol occurs 65 times in the Hebrew text and generally refers to a place. For that reason, many translators have decided to keep the Hebrew term and bring its sound into English (transliteration). Others have chosen to give an approximate meaning based on the context. The latter translations use terms, such as, realm of the dead, the grave, depths, death and the pit. Hell is found in the King James Version for half the occurrences of the Hebrew Sheol. Starting with the American Standard Version of 1901 this unfortunate rendering was corrected except in the NKJV which still retains Hell for Sheol 19 times.

As for its meaning, one Hebrew lexicographer* insisted that Sheol was a spelling variation of a word for a hollow or a subterranean place. That would describe what we might otherwise call a pit, sink hole or cave. Of course, our interest is in the way the term was used in the OT.

In most cases Sheol was used as a place name for the place where souls go after death.

After Jacob was deceived into thinking that his favored son Joseph had been killed, he said, “Surely I will go down to Sheol in mourning for my son.” (Genesis 37:35) The entire phrase, go down to Sheol, refers to death.

Fearing for the safety of his youngest son, Jacob used a curious expression to describe death saying, “If harm should befall him on the journey you are taking, then you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.” (Genesis 42:38)

The Psalmist wrote: “You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.” (Psalm 16:10) The Apostle Peter quoted this verse using Hades in place of Sheol. He said the Psalm referred to Jesus.

Job answered the words of his friends who had come to console him: “So, he who goes down to Sheol does not come up.” (Job 7:9)

Solomon used expressive Hebrew poetry to warn his son about the seductive woman: “Her house is the way to Sheol, Descending to the chambers of death.” (Proverbs 7:27)

Solomon also observed that “there is no activity or planning or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol where you are going.” (Ecclesiastes 9:10)

Using parallelism, in which two statements have equivalent meanings, the Psalmist may have used Sheol for death itself: 

The cords of death encompassed me 

And the terrors of Sheol came upon me….

--Psalm 116:3

The Psalmist also wrote, “But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol, for He will receive me.” (Psalm 49:15)

So, phrases in which the Hebrew word Sheol appear always refer to death while the word Sheol itself most often indicates the place where souls go after death. It is consistently used with a downward direction, such as, going down to Sheol. God has the power to bring someone up from Sheol, or as was written in reference to Jesus, God did not abandon Him in Sheol. Unlike Hades, Sheol is not a place of torment, but merely refers to the place where all souls go after physical death. So, the grave is adequate, but not best. Yet, the word Hell should never be used to render the OT Hebrew term Sheol.

Mark Stinnett

June 12, 2022

*Gesenius’ Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament.