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Study 5: Four "Hell" Words — Advanced Study

Sheol, Hades, Gehenna, Tartaroo: Semantic Ranges, LXX Patterns, and Evidence Classification

Evidence Tiers

This series uses a three-tier evidence classification to distinguish what Scripture says from what people claim it teaches:

  1. Explicit (E) — The text directly says this. You can point to a verse and quote it.
  2. Necessary Implication (N) — No single verse says this word-for-word, but it unavoidably follows from what the text does say. No interpretation is needed — every reader, regardless of theological position, must agree.
  3. Inference (I) — Someone claims the Bible teaches this, but no verse says it and no combination of verses forces it. Something must be added beyond what the text contains: a concept, a framework, or a choice between possible readings.

The hierarchy matters: Explicit > Necessary Implication > Inference. An inference cannot override what the text explicitly states.

Section A: Sheol (H7585) — Full Semantic Range

  1. Sheol appears approximately 67 times in the OT. The KJV translates it "grave" 31 times, "hell" 27 times, and "pit" 3 times. What does this inconsistency in English translation tell you about the semantic range of the word? Can any single English word capture it?

  2. Examine the following passages where righteous persons go to sheol: Genesis 37:35 (Jacob), Psalm 16:10 (David), Job 14:13 (Job requests sheol as a refuge). Now examine passages where the wicked go to sheol: Psalm 9:17, Numbers 16:33 (Korah). What necessary implication follows about whether sheol is a punishment venue?

  3. Six didactic passages describe sheol's characteristics: Ecclesiastes 9:10 (no work, knowledge, wisdom), Psalm 6:5 (no remembrance), Psalm 115:17 (silence), Psalm 88:10-12 (forgetfulness, darkness), Job 10:21-22 (darkness), Job 17:13-16 (bed in darkness, rest in dust). These come from four different authors. What consistent picture emerges?

  4. Sheol is paired with abaddon (destruction) in Proverbs 15:11, Proverbs 27:20, and Job 26:6. What does this pairing suggest about sheol's nature? Is it paired with torment vocabulary or destruction vocabulary?

  5. Read Psalm 139:8, Amos 9:2, and Job 11:8. In these passages, sheol is used as a spatial extreme opposite heaven. Does this usage support "sheol = punishment" or "sheol = the depth/unseen realm"?

  6. Sheol is personified as insatiable in Isaiah 5:14, Proverbs 30:16, and Habakkuk 2:5. It "enlarges itself" and "opens its mouth." Does personification tell us about sheol's literal nature, or is it a literary device?

Section B: Sheol — Competing Depictions (Didactic vs. Poetic)

  1. Read Isaiah 14:9-10. The rephaim (shades) "speak" in sheol. Now read Isaiah 14:4 — the passage is identified as a mashal (taunt-poem). In the same passage, trees "rejoice" (v.8) and sheol is "moved" (v.9). If trees do not literally speak and sheol is not literally a being that can be "moved," what literary device is at work?

  2. Read Ezekiel 32:21, 27. Warriors "speak" in sheol — but verse 27 describes them lying with swords under their heads (sleep/burial imagery). This passage is prophetic lamentation (qinah). How does identifying the genre affect whether you read the "speaking" as literal consciousness?

  3. Read Luke 16:19-31. The rich man is depicted as conscious in hades. Now consider: (a) Is this passage a parable or a historical account? (b) What is the stated teaching point (v.29-31)? (c) If the rich man's consciousness in hades is literal, how does that reconcile with the six didactic passages describing sheol as unconscious?

  4. When didactic passages (direct teaching statements) and parabolic/poetic passages describe the same subject differently, which type governs the other's interpretation? How would you resolve the tension between the six unconsciousness passages and the three apparent-consciousness passages?

Section C: Hades (G86) — LXX Translation Patterns

  1. The Septuagint (LXX) translates sheol as hades in 58 of approximately 65 instances. The remaining translations use vocabulary related to descending, death, destruction, and soul — no torment-related word appears. What does this tell you about how pre-Christian Jewish translators understood sheol?

  2. Acts 2:27, 31 directly quotes Psalm 16:10, substituting hades for sheol. This is a verified textual connection (direct OT quotation in the NT). What level of certainty does this give for sheol-hades equivalence?

  3. Read Revelation 20:13-14. Hades delivers up the dead and is then cast into the lake of fire. What two necessary implications follow? (Hint: one about hades being temporary, one about hades and the lake of fire being distinct.)

  4. Read Revelation 20:10 and then Revelation 20:15 and 21:8. In verse 10, three subjects (the devil, the beast, the false prophet) are "tormented day and night for ever and ever." In verses 15 and 21:8, human beings enter the lake of fire, and the identifying term is "the second death." Does the text state that what happens to the three named subjects also happens to humans?

  5. The beast and the false prophet are symbolic entities in Revelation's apocalyptic framework (Rev 19:20), not individual human beings. How does this affect whether Rev 20:10 can be extended to describe the fate of all the wicked?

Section D: Gehenna (G1067) — Etymology, OT Background, NT Usage

  1. Gehenna derives from ge-Hinnom (Valley of the son of Hinnom), a real geographic location (Josh 15:8; 18:16). Trace the OT history: child sacrifice to Molech (2 Ki 23:10; 2 Chr 28:3; 33:6; Jer 7:31; 32:35), Josiah's desecration (2 Ki 23:10), and Jeremiah's renaming as "the valley of slaughter" with burial "till there be no place" (Jer 7:32; 19:6). What are the OT associations — torment of the living or death, slaughter, and corpse disposal?

  2. A popular claim holds that Gehenna was Jerusalem's perpetually burning garbage dump. This claim first appears in Rabbi David Kimhi (c. 1200 CE) and is absent from all Second Temple sources (Josephus, Mishnah, Talmud, Dead Sea Scrolls, Philo). What does the absence of this claim from earlier sources suggest about its reliability?

  3. All 12 NT occurrences of gehenna: Matt 5:22, 29, 30; 10:28; 18:9; 23:15, 33; Mark 9:43, 45, 47; Luke 12:5; James 3:6. Jesus uses gehenna 11 times; James uses it once. Examine the vocabulary Jesus uses in gehenna passages: apollumi (destroy/perish) in Matt 10:28 and Matt 5:29-30. Now search all 12 passages: does any gehenna passage use basanizo (torment), basanismos (torment/noun), or kolasis (punishment) applied to human beings?

  4. Read Mark 9:43-48 carefully. Jesus quotes Isaiah 66:24. The Hebrew word for "carcases" in Isaiah 66:24 is peger, which means dead body/corpse (used in Lev 26:30; Isa 14:19; Jer 33:5; Nah 3:3 for dead bodies). The Greek word skolex (worm/maggot) occurs 3 times in the NT, all in Mark 9:44,46,48 — all quoting this same passage. What acts on the dead bodies: agents of torment or agents of decomposition?

  5. Read Matt 18:9 and Mark 9:43, 45, 47. What is the stated alternative to gehenna? Is it "life vs. torment" or "life vs. gehenna (destruction)"?

  6. In OT usage, "unquenchable fire" appears in Jeremiah 17:27 (fire in Jerusalem's gates — the city is not still burning) and "fire shall not be quenched" in Isaiah 34:10 (Edom's destruction — Edom is not still burning). What does "unquenchable" mean in OT usage — fire that burns forever or fire that cannot be extinguished before completing its work?

Section E: Tartaroo (G5020) — Scope and Limitations

  1. Tartaroo (G5020) occurs once in the entire NT (2 Pet 2:4). It is a verb (to cast into Tartarus), not a noun. It is applied exclusively to "the angels that sinned." Can any doctrine about human final fate be built on this word?

  2. Compare 2 Peter 2:4 with Jude 1:6. Both describe the same event. Peter says "chains of darkness, reserved unto judgment." Jude says "everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day." Is this a final state or a pre-judgment holding?

  3. Jude 1:7 mentions Sodom and Gomorrah "suffering the vengeance of eternal fire" and sets them forth "for an example." The cities are not still burning. What does "eternal fire" mean in this context — fire that burns forever or fire whose results are permanent?

Section F: The KJV Translation Problem and Cross-Study Integration

  1. The KJV translates sheol (31x "grave," 27x "hell"), hades (10x "hell," 1x "grave"), gehenna (11x "hell"), and tartaroo (1x "hell") — all as "hell" in many instances. Construct a summary of what each word actually designates and explain why a single English word fails to capture four distinct concepts.

  2. Trace the connection across prior studies: etc6-01b established that God can "destroy both soul and body in gehenna" (Matt 10:28). etc6-02 established that the wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23) and that the wicked are punished with "everlasting destruction" (2 Thess 1:9). etc6-03 established that the second death is the lake of fire (Rev 20:14). How does this study's examination of gehenna vocabulary (apollumi/destroy) confirm or conflict with those findings?

Evidence Classification Exercise

Classify each claim below as Explicit (E), Necessary Implication (N), or Inference (I). For each inference, identify what must be added beyond what the text says.

  1. "The LXX translates sheol as hades in 58 of approximately 65 instances."
  2. Classification: ___

  3. If inference, what is added: ___

  4. "Sheol/hades is characterized by unconsciousness — no work, knowledge, wisdom, remembrance, or praise."

  5. Classification: ___

  6. If inference, what is added: ___

  7. "Gehenna is a place of eternal conscious torment for all the wicked."

  8. Classification: ___

  9. If inference, what is added: ___

  10. "Jesus uses destruction vocabulary (apollumi), not torment vocabulary (basanizo), in gehenna passages."

  11. Classification: ___

  12. If inference, what is added: ___

  13. "The rich man's conscious experience in hades (Luke 16:23) proves that sheol/hades is a place of conscious existence."

  14. Classification: ___

  15. If inference, what is added: ___

  16. "Rev 20:10's 'tormented day and night for ever and ever' applies to all human beings cast into the lake of fire."

  17. Classification: ___

  18. If inference, what is added: ___

  19. "The four words translated 'hell' in the KJV describe a single unified concept of eternal conscious torment."

  20. Classification: ___
  21. If inference, what is added: ___

What CAN Be Said / What CANNOT Be Said

Based on your study, fill in each column:

What CAN be said (Scripture explicitly states or necessarily implies):

What CANNOT be said (not stated or necessarily implied — requires adding something):