What is Hell?
The English word “hell,” as employed in the KJV, translates four words in the original biblical languages: Heb. še˒ôl, and Gk. hádēs, géenna (Gehenna) and tartaróō (a reference to Tartarus). The RSV transliterates as Sheol and Hades; these names generally signify the abode of all the dead, whether blessed or damned. On the other hand, the RSV associates both géenna and tartaróō with hell, signifying, as used in the New Testament, a special place of punishment for the wicked. The progressive biblical use of these terms provides a history of the development of the doctrine of hell as the eternal destiny of the damned. Although seeds of the later doctrine of hell exist in the Old Testament, particularly in the prophets, the doctrine did not approach its developed form until intertestamental and New Testament times.
I. Sheol
The KJV translates Heb. še˒ôl thirty-one times as “hell,” thirty-one times as “the grave,” and three times as “the pit.” Both the literal meaning of the word and its derivation are unknown; none of the theories proposed is universally accepted. Attempts to derive it from Akkadian have failed to convince most scholars. Some scholars relate the term to Heb. šā˒â“to lie waste”; Sheol then would refer to a desolate, inhuman region where no life can exist and which is a horror to all who behold it. Since such a region was thought to be located under the earth, some have suggested “underworld” as the best translation. Others believe that še˒ôl means “cavern, hollow, deep (place),” from the Hebrew root š˓l. Another widely accepted view is that še˒ôl derives from a root meaning “ask, inquire.” This theory connects Sheol with the practice of necromancy, the consultation of the dead through mediums. Sheol would be the abode of the spirits thus consulted.
Whatever the precise meaning of Sheol, the Old Testament speaks of it as the abode of the shades (Job 26:5–6; Ps. 88:10 [MT 11]; Prov. 2:18; 9:18 [RSV mg.]; Isa. 14:9; 26:14, 19). The Hebrew word for shades (rep̱ā˒im) means lit. “the limp, powerless ones.” Other texts characterize Sheol as dark, gloomy, chaotic, and silent (Job 10:21–22; Ps. 94:17), a “land of forgetfulness” whose inhabitants are weak, cut off from the experience of God’s presence, and no longer praise him (Pss. 88:4–6, 10–12 MT 5–7, 11–13]; 115:17; Isa. 14:9–10; 38:18). Yet there the weary find rest (Job 3:17), and Sheol is not beyond the reach of God’s presence and power (Ps. 139:8; Amos 9:2). Old Testament writers employ various images of Sheol including a gated city (Job 38:17; Isa. 38:10) or a voracious mouth which swallows up the dead (Isa. 5:14). Except for an oblique reference to Sheol as a place of thirst (v. 13), the Old Testament nowhere suggests that it is a place of torment for the wicked. Rather, it is the general abode of all the dead.
II. Hades
The LXX consistently uses Gk. hádēs to translate še˒ôl. The Greek term had a long history of usage in the classics, where it designates the underworld in general, the abode of all the dead. Hades is translated as “hell” in the KJV but is transliterated in the RSV. Acts 2:27 quotes Ps. 16:10 with reference to the resurrection of Christ. It is literally the “gates of Hades” (Matt. 16:18, RSV mg.) that shall not prevail against the Church; the RSV suggests that the image of the gates represents the power of Hades, the “powers of death.” In the story of the rich man and Lazarus, however, the rich man in Hades is said to be in torment and suffering from thirst (Luke 16:23–24; cf. Isa. 5:13). The reference to flame as the source of the torment suggests that, in this parable at least, Hades is virtually synonymous with Gehenna. Rev. 20:14 maintains the distinction between Hades and the place of torment by fire (usually Gehenna in the New Testament) but depicts their ultimate union when Death and its realm, Hades, are thrown into the lake of fire.
III. Gehenna
The word Gehenna represents the nearest biblical approach to the developed doctrine of hell as the place of the damned. Thus the RSV employs the English word “hell” almost exclusively for Gehenna (Gk. géenna). The name comes from the Hebrew expressions gê hinnōm, gê ben-hinnōm, and gê benê-hinnōm, which mean respectively “valley of Hinnom,” “valley of the son of Hinnom,” and “valley of the sons of Hinnom.” All refer to a valley south of Jerusalem which became infamous for its sacrificial site called Topheth where children were offered to the god Molech during the reigns of such wicked kings of Judah as Ahaz and Manasseh (2 Chr. 28:3; 33:6). King Josiah defiled the site during his reforms so that children no longer would be sacrificed there (2 Kgs. 23:10), but the valley may have been used again for such practices after his time (Jer. 7:31–32; 19:2–6; 32:35). As punishment for this, Jeremiah proclaimed that in the future the valley of the son of Hinnom would be called the valley of slaughter since many would be slain there and, for lack of room elsewhere, the dead would be buried in Topheth (7:32; 19:6).
In later Jewish thought the name of this place of infamy and horror became associated with the growing belief in the existence of a place where the wicked would be punished for eternity (cf. Isa. 66:24). Likewise the conviction was growing that a final resurrection and judgment would come, separating those destined for “everlasting life” from those destined for “everlasting contempt” (Dan. 12:2). The site of this judgment was variously placed in the valley of Jehoshaphat (Joel 3:12ff. [MT 4:12ff.]; according to tradition this is the Kidron valley) and on the Mount of Olives (Zech. 14:3ff.). The image of Gehenna as the place of punishment for the wicked is also used in later Jewish writings (As. Mos. 10:10; 2 Esdr. 7:36; 2Apoc. Bar. 59:10; 1 En. 27:2–3; 48:9; 54:1; 90:26–27; 103:8), where it often has strong associations with darkness and burning fire.
The New Testament use of Gehenna continues the development of the concept of a place of eternal punishment. Except for Jas. 3:6, it is used only in the Synoptic Gospels. Drawing heavily on Jewish apocalyptic literature, the Gospels characterize Gehenna as a place of “unquenchable fire” (Matt. 5:22; 18:9; Mark 9:43; Jas. 3:6; cf. Matt. 3:10, 12; 7:19; 18:8; 25:41; Luke 3:9, 17 where fire is mentioned without naming Gehenna), and as a valley or pit into which one’s body may be cast (Matt. 5:29–30; Mark 9:45, 47; Luke 12:5). It is probably safe to assume that the lake of fire of Rev. 20:14 is identical with Gehenna, into which Death and Hades are thrown. The limited use of the Gehenna-fire imagery in the New Testament should be noted. Although it cannot be ignored, particularly since it appears primarily in the teachings of Jesus, its limited use and the nearly total lack of concrete imagery for hell in Paul’s writings suggest that this is not the only way to speak of the destiny of those who reject God.
IV. Tartarus
The only other appearance of English “hell” in the RSV is in 2 Pet. 2:4 where the Greek text uses a verb form of the classical name Tartarus meaning “consigning to Tartarus.” In classical thought Tartarus was the lowest part of the underworld and a place of punishment over against Elysium, the place of the blessed. Thus it was distinct from Hades, the general abode of the dead, although in popular usage the two terms may have been interchangeable. In 2 Peter the name is used of the infernal region to which the rebellious angels were consigned, and hence here signifies a place of punishment of the wicked.
Myers, A. C. (1987). In The Eerdmans Bible dictionary (pp. 478–479). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.
