Article by: Kenneth J. Ester
Sheol, Hades, Hell and the Lake of Fire
There is a lot of confusion as to just what exactly "hell" is in the Bible. Some think it is a temporary place where souls go to await judgment. Others think hell is the final place of eternal punishment. This confusion comes from a problem with the translation from Hebrew and Greek in the ancient manuscripts to modern day English. A lot of Christians will not like to hear this, but the King James Version is actually one of the worst culprits in this confusion.
To clarify something, the word "hell" is an English word that derived from words and beliefs of the German language. When they translated the first English Bible in 1611, they used Hell where they believed it fit because that was the word English speaking people were comfortable using. Unfortunately, they were not very consistent with its use.
Sheol - Strong's Hebrew 7585 - Found 66 times: Underworld (place to which people descend at death)
The KJV translates this as "Hell", 31 times, into "Grave" another 31 times, into the "pit", 3 times and once it just says into the depth.
(hadés) - Strong's Greek 86 - Found 10 times: Hades, the unseen world. Properly, unseen, i.e. 'Hades' or the place of departed souls.
All ten times this word is found, the KJV translates it to "hell" as well.
At this point, it is not too much of a problem. If you look them up, Sheol is used solely in the Old Testament and Hades is used only in the New Testament. There is a very strong reason to believe they are simply the Hebrew and Greek word for the same place.
In the Book of Acts, Luke uses "Hades" twice.
Acts 2:27 (NASB)
Because You will not abandon my soul to Hades, Nor allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.
Acts 2:31 (NASB)
he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay.
However, Luke was not making this up as he wrote it. He was actually referencing scripture from Psalms.
Psalm 16:10 (NASB)
10 For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.
So in comparing these verses, it becomes extremely clear that Hades is simply the Greek word for the same place as Sheol in Hebrew. To save some confusion, from this point on in this article, when I use the word Hades, you can simply replace it with Sheol if you are more comfortable using that word.
The real question then, is what exactly is this place "hades", which the KJV bible so often translates to "hell"? One thing we can be absolutely certain of, is that it is not the final place of punishment for the lost souls. It is not the Lake of Fire.
Revelation 20:13-14 (NASB)
13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.
Just reading these verses in Revelation it is clear that the souls that are in Hades will come out of Hades to be judged and then Hades itself will be thrown into the Lake of Fire. So obviously Hades is the place souls go to await the judgment day, which Revelation also tells us comes after the thousand years of Christ reign on Earth is over.
Unfortunately, as clear as all of this seems to be so far, the KJV bible continues to translate other words as "hell" and that is what gives birth to so much confusion.
geenna - Strong's Greek 1067- Found 12 times: Of Hebrew origin; Valley of Hinnom; ge-henna, a valley of Jerusalem, used as a name for the place of everlasting punishment.
Strong's finds the definition of geenna in its different forms to be a place of everlasting punishment. That cannot possibly be Hades. This must be the Lake of Fire. It is found in the New Testament 12 times and all twelve cases the KJV translates it as "hell". Here are a few examples...
Matthew 5:22 (KJV)
22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
Matthew 5:29-30 (KJV)
29 And 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, 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.
Matthew 10:28 (KJV)
28 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.
Matthew 23:33 (KJV)
33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
So from reading the King James Version, the question of whether Hell is the same place as Hades or the same place as the Lake of Fire is cloudy at best. That has caused a lot of confusion among Christians who read the Bible but do not dig in and study it.
Myself, I prefer using the NASB version of the Bible for studying and compare it often to other versions like the KJV to make sure there is not a discrepancy. The NASB does not translate Sheol and Hades to Hell. It just keeps the original words in place. Sheol and Hades is Sheol and Hades. For the most part, the only word it translates to hell is any form of the word Geenna.
The one word it translates as Hell and I believe is a bad translation is Tartaroo.
tartaroó - Strong's Greek 5020: Found 1 time: To thrust down to Tartarus or Gehenna. From Tartaros; to incarcerate in eternal torment.
Now this is just my own belief here and I am no expert. But this word is only used once in the entire Bible.
2 Peter 2:4 (NASB)
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment;
Now this verse seems like it fits in with the hell of Geenna which is an everlasting punishment. It naturally reads as if the place is what is reserved for judgment. However, I feel this is one verse the NASB translated wrong. If you write the verse exactly according to the translation in Strong's concordance, you get this...
For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell, delivering them in chains to be held in gloomy darkness until their judgment.
According to this translation, it is not the place that is reserved for judgment, but the angels that are held until their judgment. This would fit more in line with Hades.
There is reason to believe that Hades is actually divided into at least two sections. Or at least it was. Before Jesus died on the cross, He told us that nobody has ascended to heaven but He who has descended from there. Which is Him. Since Revelation tells us that the sinner is not judged until the thousand years of Christ's reign is over, that would mean that both the sinner and the Godly were in Hades in the old days. When you read the story of Lazarus and the rich man, I believe this is in Hades because at the time Jesus tells it, nobody is in hell or heaven yet. Everyone is in Hades. Yet Jesus makes it clear that there is a great chasm between the place of Lazarus and the place where the rich man is suffering.
If there are two sections in Hades, I have no problem believing there could be a third section where the angels that sinned are chained and kept to await their judgment.
In Luke we learn there is an abyss where angels can be sent.
Luke 8:30-31 (NASB)
30 And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion”; for many demons had entered him. 31 They were imploring Him not to command them to go away into the abyss.
In Revelation, after Armageddon is over, the devil is bound and tossed into an abyss for a thousand years...
Revelation 20:1-3 (NASB)
1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. 2 And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; 3 and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.
This abyss could be its own place all together, but since it refers to it as a dark pit that opens up on earth, it really lends support to being a part of Hades.
Just to be clear, today, Hades is still full of the souls of the sinners, awaiting the day of judgment before the white throne. The believers are no longer going to Hades but are going to heaven.
When Jesus was on the cross and the one thief asked Him to remember Him when He came to the throne, Jesus reply was simple. "Before the sun has set today, you will be with me in paradise." Many Christians have struggled to understand how this is possible since Jesus did not go to heaven until He came back to life on the third day. The answer to that is because at that time, nobody was in heaven yet. Paradise was the name of the section in Hades where the Godly were placed. However, when Jesus did ascend, Paul tells us He liberated those in Paradise.
Ephesians 4:8 (NASB)
Therefore it says, “When He ascended on high, He led captive a host of captives, And He gave gifts to men.”
So when Jesus ascended to heaven, He took those in Paradise with Him. He may have even moved Paradise from Hades to Heaven.
Since Jesus took those in Paradise with Him to heaven, it means Heaven is now open to those who are saved when they die. The believer is no longer sent to Hades but goes to Heaven. The unbeliever still goes to Hades.
As for Hell, at best it is debatable whether Hell is the same place as Hades or the same place as the Lake of Fire. If you study the KJV only, it is both. However, as Christians we are not to be instruments of confusion. Today the vast majority of the world, Believers and Sinners see hell as the final place of punishment. Books, movies, cartoons and many other things picture hell as the place of everlasting punishment. Since the Bible does not make it clear and many versions translate hell as being both Hades and the Lake of Fire, I feel it is wrong to push the belief that Hell is the same place as Hades. However much you may believe that is the truth in your own studies, that teaching now only causes senseless confusion that has no benefit. If you read versions like the NASB, which is considered by scholars to be more accurately translated word for word than the KJV, you will find there is very little reason for confusion. Other than one single verse I feel is translated wrong, Hell is the same as the Lake of Fire and Hades is the same place as Sheol.
To clarify something, the word "hell" is an English word that derived from words and beliefs of the German language. When they translated the first English Bible in 1611, they used Hell where they believed it fit because that was the word English speaking people were comfortable using. Unfortunately, they were not very consistent with its use.
Sheol - Strong's Hebrew 7585 - Found 66 times: Underworld (place to which people descend at death)
The KJV translates this as "Hell", 31 times, into "Grave" another 31 times, into the "pit", 3 times and once it just says into the depth.
(hadés) - Strong's Greek 86 - Found 10 times: Hades, the unseen world. Properly, unseen, i.e. 'Hades' or the place of departed souls.
All ten times this word is found, the KJV translates it to "hell" as well.
At this point, it is not too much of a problem. If you look them up, Sheol is used solely in the Old Testament and Hades is used only in the New Testament. There is a very strong reason to believe they are simply the Hebrew and Greek word for the same place.
In the Book of Acts, Luke uses "Hades" twice.
Acts 2:27 (NASB)
Because You will not abandon my soul to Hades, Nor allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.
Acts 2:31 (NASB)
he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay.
However, Luke was not making this up as he wrote it. He was actually referencing scripture from Psalms.
Psalm 16:10 (NASB)
10 For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.
So in comparing these verses, it becomes extremely clear that Hades is simply the Greek word for the same place as Sheol in Hebrew. To save some confusion, from this point on in this article, when I use the word Hades, you can simply replace it with Sheol if you are more comfortable using that word.
The real question then, is what exactly is this place "hades", which the KJV bible so often translates to "hell"? One thing we can be absolutely certain of, is that it is not the final place of punishment for the lost souls. It is not the Lake of Fire.
Revelation 20:13-14 (NASB)
13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.
Just reading these verses in Revelation it is clear that the souls that are in Hades will come out of Hades to be judged and then Hades itself will be thrown into the Lake of Fire. So obviously Hades is the place souls go to await the judgment day, which Revelation also tells us comes after the thousand years of Christ reign on Earth is over.
Unfortunately, as clear as all of this seems to be so far, the KJV bible continues to translate other words as "hell" and that is what gives birth to so much confusion.
geenna - Strong's Greek 1067- Found 12 times: Of Hebrew origin; Valley of Hinnom; ge-henna, a valley of Jerusalem, used as a name for the place of everlasting punishment.
Strong's finds the definition of geenna in its different forms to be a place of everlasting punishment. That cannot possibly be Hades. This must be the Lake of Fire. It is found in the New Testament 12 times and all twelve cases the KJV translates it as "hell". Here are a few examples...
Matthew 5:22 (KJV)
22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
Matthew 5:29-30 (KJV)
29 And 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, 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.
Matthew 10:28 (KJV)
28 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.
Matthew 23:33 (KJV)
33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
So from reading the King James Version, the question of whether Hell is the same place as Hades or the same place as the Lake of Fire is cloudy at best. That has caused a lot of confusion among Christians who read the Bible but do not dig in and study it.
Myself, I prefer using the NASB version of the Bible for studying and compare it often to other versions like the KJV to make sure there is not a discrepancy. The NASB does not translate Sheol and Hades to Hell. It just keeps the original words in place. Sheol and Hades is Sheol and Hades. For the most part, the only word it translates to hell is any form of the word Geenna.
The one word it translates as Hell and I believe is a bad translation is Tartaroo.
tartaroó - Strong's Greek 5020: Found 1 time: To thrust down to Tartarus or Gehenna. From Tartaros; to incarcerate in eternal torment.
Now this is just my own belief here and I am no expert. But this word is only used once in the entire Bible.
2 Peter 2:4 (NASB)
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment;
Now this verse seems like it fits in with the hell of Geenna which is an everlasting punishment. It naturally reads as if the place is what is reserved for judgment. However, I feel this is one verse the NASB translated wrong. If you write the verse exactly according to the translation in Strong's concordance, you get this...
For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell, delivering them in chains to be held in gloomy darkness until their judgment.
According to this translation, it is not the place that is reserved for judgment, but the angels that are held until their judgment. This would fit more in line with Hades.
There is reason to believe that Hades is actually divided into at least two sections. Or at least it was. Before Jesus died on the cross, He told us that nobody has ascended to heaven but He who has descended from there. Which is Him. Since Revelation tells us that the sinner is not judged until the thousand years of Christ's reign is over, that would mean that both the sinner and the Godly were in Hades in the old days. When you read the story of Lazarus and the rich man, I believe this is in Hades because at the time Jesus tells it, nobody is in hell or heaven yet. Everyone is in Hades. Yet Jesus makes it clear that there is a great chasm between the place of Lazarus and the place where the rich man is suffering.
If there are two sections in Hades, I have no problem believing there could be a third section where the angels that sinned are chained and kept to await their judgment.
In Luke we learn there is an abyss where angels can be sent.
Luke 8:30-31 (NASB)
30 And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion”; for many demons had entered him. 31 They were imploring Him not to command them to go away into the abyss.
In Revelation, after Armageddon is over, the devil is bound and tossed into an abyss for a thousand years...
Revelation 20:1-3 (NASB)
1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. 2 And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; 3 and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.
This abyss could be its own place all together, but since it refers to it as a dark pit that opens up on earth, it really lends support to being a part of Hades.
Just to be clear, today, Hades is still full of the souls of the sinners, awaiting the day of judgment before the white throne. The believers are no longer going to Hades but are going to heaven.
When Jesus was on the cross and the one thief asked Him to remember Him when He came to the throne, Jesus reply was simple. "Before the sun has set today, you will be with me in paradise." Many Christians have struggled to understand how this is possible since Jesus did not go to heaven until He came back to life on the third day. The answer to that is because at that time, nobody was in heaven yet. Paradise was the name of the section in Hades where the Godly were placed. However, when Jesus did ascend, Paul tells us He liberated those in Paradise.
Ephesians 4:8 (NASB)
Therefore it says, “When He ascended on high, He led captive a host of captives, And He gave gifts to men.”
So when Jesus ascended to heaven, He took those in Paradise with Him. He may have even moved Paradise from Hades to Heaven.
Since Jesus took those in Paradise with Him to heaven, it means Heaven is now open to those who are saved when they die. The believer is no longer sent to Hades but goes to Heaven. The unbeliever still goes to Hades.
As for Hell, at best it is debatable whether Hell is the same place as Hades or the same place as the Lake of Fire. If you study the KJV only, it is both. However, as Christians we are not to be instruments of confusion. Today the vast majority of the world, Believers and Sinners see hell as the final place of punishment. Books, movies, cartoons and many other things picture hell as the place of everlasting punishment. Since the Bible does not make it clear and many versions translate hell as being both Hades and the Lake of Fire, I feel it is wrong to push the belief that Hell is the same place as Hades. However much you may believe that is the truth in your own studies, that teaching now only causes senseless confusion that has no benefit. If you read versions like the NASB, which is considered by scholars to be more accurately translated word for word than the KJV, you will find there is very little reason for confusion. Other than one single verse I feel is translated wrong, Hell is the same as the Lake of Fire and Hades is the same place as Sheol.
