Understanding Sheol in scripture

 Deeper Study

Most of the bibles had the word Sheol but it's left out of the Big marquee books (NIV, KJV, NLT)

7585. אוֹל (sheol or sheol)

Englishman's Concordance

Strong's Hebrew: 7585. שְׁאוֹל (sheol or sheol) — 66 Occurrences

 

From <https://biblehub.com/psalms/18-5.htm>

The primary attributes of Sheol across the Old Testament include:

• • • Location (The Underworld / Depths): Sheol is consistently conceptualized as being located in the lowest parts of the earth. Metaphorically and spatially, it is the absolute opposite of the heavens (e.g., Job 11:8 describes it as "deeper than Sheol").
    • Silence and Forgetfulness: It is characterized as a place of stillness where normal human activity ceases. Psalm 6:5 notes that "in death there is no remembrance of you; in Sheol who will give you praise?", emphasizing that it is cut off from the dynamic, active worship of the living.
    • The Great Equalizer: Sheol is a destination without distinction. Both the wicked and the righteous, kings and commoners, masters and servants, all go down to the same shadowy realm upon physical death (as detailed in texts like Job 3:13-19).
    • Shadowy and Gloomy ("Land of Darkness"): It is frequently described as a place of profound darkness, dust, and gloom, devoid of light or vital spark (e.g., Job 10:21-22). The inhabitants are often referred to as rephaim (shades or weak spirits).
    • Personification (Gates and Cords): Sheol is frequently personified as a hunter or a voracious monster with an insatiable appetite. It has "gates" (Isaiah 38:10), "bars," and "cords" or "snares" that entangle the living who draw near to death (Psalm 18:5).
    • Inescapability: Once a person enters Sheol, it is viewed as a permanent physical exit from the land of the living. Job laments that whoever goes down to Sheol does not come up (Job 7:9).
    • Not Beyond God's Reach: While it is separated from the realm of the living, later wisdom literature and poetry emphasize that even the depths of Sheol are ultimately known to God. As Psalm 139:8 declares, "If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there."
    • The concept of the "third heaven" is a specific biblical reference found in only one passage in the New Testament: 2 Corinthians 12:2-4.

In this passage, the Apostle Paul recounts a mystical experience, writing:

"I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows—was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell."

Understanding the Context of the "Third Heaven"

To understand what Paul meant by the "third heaven," scholars look to ancient Jewish cosmology, which often divided the heavens into multiple tiers (frequently three or seven):

• The First Heaven: Typically understood as the earth's atmosphere, where the birds fly and clouds gather.

• The Second Heaven: The stellar expanse—the sun, moon, stars, and outer space.

• The Third Heaven: The spiritual realm, described by Paul synonymously with Paradise, which represents the dwelling place of God and His throne.

Because Paul uses the term interchangeably with "paradise" in verse 4, the third heaven is understood in Christian theology to be the highest spiritual domain where God's presence resides, distinct from the physical sky and outer space.

 

Outside Sources- look for writings from the time period from the culture that can lend credence to the account or dispute it. (Modern-Day Skeptics will not move on evidence that doesn’t have outside witnesses..)

there are writings outside the canonical Bible that mention or expand upon the concept of Sheol, though how it appears depends heavily on the specific literature and language.

Because the Hebrew word Sheol is unique to ancient Hebrew thought, extrabiblical writings fall into a few distinct categories: ancient Near Eastern parallels, Jewish pseudepigrapha, and rabbinic literature.

1. Ancient Near Eastern Parallels (Caananite & Akkadian Texts)

Long before and during the composition of the Hebrew Bible, neighboring civilizations had rich mythologies about a subterranean underworld that strongly influenced how the ancient Israelites conceptualized Sheol.

• • • Ugaritic Texts (Canaanite Literature): In the ancient texts discovered at Ugarit (modern-day Syria), the Canaanite god of death and the underworld was named Mot. His realm was described as a gloomy, dusty place with "gates" and an insatiable "throat"—imagery that heavily mirrors how biblical writers personify Sheol.
    • Mesopotamian Epics (The Descent of Ishtar and The Epic of Gilgamesh): These Akkadian texts describe the Babylonian underworld, known as Irkalla or the "Land of No Return." It is depicted as a dark, dusty house where inhabitants eat clay and wear bird-like feather garments, providing a cultural window into the early, bleak view of the afterlife shared across the ancient Levant.

2. Intertestamental and Pseudepigraphical Texts (The 2nd Temple Period)

As noted earlier, when Jewish writers began writing in Greek or Aramaic during the centuries leading up to Christ, they generally transitioned from using the Hebrew word Sheol to the Greek word Hades. However, these texts dramatically expanded the theology of the underworld:

• • • 1 Enoch: This apocalyptic text describes a complex, multi-partitioned underworld where the spirits of the dead are separated. Instead of a single, flat "equalizer" where everyone goes, 1 Enoch envisions chambers for the righteous waiting for reward and torment for the wicked.
    • The Testament of Abraham: This pseudepigraphal text depicts Death and Hades as active spiritual entities that receive souls, showing how Jewish views of the afterlife evolved to personify the underworld.

3. Rabbinic Literature (The Talmud and Midrash)

In post-biblical rabbinic writings (composed from the first several centuries A.D. onward), the sages of the Talmud frequently discussed Sheol, often equating it with Gehinom (Gehenna) or viewing it as a temporary holding place.

• • • Rabbinic tradition often describes Sheol as having multiple levels or compartments.
    • In tracts like the Babylonian Talmud (Eruvin 19a), it is famously noted that Sheol is so deep that even the wicked who pass through it can eventually be redeemed or guided by divine mercy, reflecting a massive evolution away from the permanent, inescapable "shadow-realm" found in early biblical poetry.

 

 

At the time of Christ (the late Second Temple period), Jewish death and burial rituals were deeply shaped by biblical law, ritual purity regulations, and cultural traditions. Because of the warm climate and the strict view that a corpse was a source of major ritual impurity (tumat met), customs required a swift and carefully choreographed process.

Posen Library

The death rituals of first-century Judea can be broken down into four main stages:

1. Immediate Post-Mortem Care

• • • Closing and Kissing: As soon as death was confirmed, close relatives closed the eyes of the deceased and kissed them out of love and respect.
      Community in Mission - Archdiocese of Washington
    • Washing the Body: The corpse was thoroughly washed with clean water to purify it.
      Stephanie Landsem
    • Anointing: Fragrant spices, oils, and perfumes—such as myrrh, aloes, and nard—were applied to the body to honor the deceased and mask the odors of decomposition.
      Stephanie Landsem
    • Binding and Shrouding: Unlike in earlier biblical times when people were sometimes buried in their occupational clothes, first-century Jews wrapped the body in a linen burial shroud (sadin). The jaw was bound closed with a cloth (the soudarion), and the hands and feet were tied loosely with linen strips.
      Stephanie Landsem+ 1

2. Rapid Burial (The Same Day)

• • • No Delay: Due to the heat and strict laws regarding ritual pollution, burial took place as quickly as possible—almost always within 24 hours (and often within a few hours) of death. Even if someone died on the Sabbath, urgent preparations and burials were permitted.
      Community in Mission - Archdiocese of Washington
    • The Funeral Procession: The body was placed on an open bier (a wooden frame or stretcher) and carried from the home to the tomb.
    • Professional Mourners: Funerals were public and expressive affairs. Even poorer families were expected to hire at least two flute players and professional mourning women (mekonenot) to lead ritual wailing, crying, and lamentation. Passersby were culturally expected to join the procession to honor the dead.

3. Tomb Placement (Primary Burial)

• • • Rock-Cut Tombs: Wealthier families and community members in Jerusalem used family tombs carved into the limestone hillsides. Poorer individuals were placed in simple trench graves in the earth.
      Tom's Theology Blog
    • Benches and Niches (Kokhim): Inside a rock-cut tomb, the body was laid out horizontally on a stone shelf (bench) or slid into a deep, narrow, finger-like wall niche called a kokh.
      Tom's Theology Blog
    • Sealing the Tomb: The entrance to the tomb or individual niche was typically sealed with a large stone to protect the remains from animals and grave robbers.

4. Two-Stage Burial and Ossuaries (Secondary Burial)

A unique hallmark of wealthy and middle-class Jewish burial practice in first-century Jerusalem was secondary burial:

Tom's Theology Blog

• • • After about a year, once the flesh had completely decomposed leaving only bare bones, the family would return to the tomb.
      Tom's Theology Blog
    • Relatives gathered the skeletal remains and placed them into a small, carved limestone box called an ossuary.
      Tom's Theology Blog
    • These bone boxes were often inscribed with the name of the deceased and slid into smaller wall niches, making room on the stone benches for future family members to pass away.
      Tom's Theology Blog
    • 5. Mourning Customs (Shivah and Aninut)
    • The Transition of Grief: Between the time of death and the actual burial, the immediate family (onen) was exempt from standard religious commandments so they could focus entirely on preparing the body.
    • Public Condolences: After the burial, formal mourning commenced. Friends and community members would form lines to comfort the mourners, bringing meals of comfort, tearing their garments slightly as a sign of grief, and sitting low to the ground.
    • Ritual Cleansing: Because handling a corpse made a person ritually unclean, anyone who touched or carried the body had to undergo purification rites, often utilizing ritual immersion pools (mikvaot) located near burial sites before re-entering normal community life.
      Posen Library

 

Hades ( in Greek)

In the New Testament, the Greek word Hades (ᾍδης) appears 10 times. While it translates the Old Testament concept of Sheol (the realm of the dead), its meaning shifts and develops, reflecting the changing eschatology of the Second Temple period and the teachings of Jesus and the early church.

The New Testament perspective on Hades can be broken down into four main themes:

1. A Realm of the Dead / The Grave

In its most general sense, Hades simply refers to the unseen spiritual realm or dwelling place of the dead between physical death and the final resurrection.

• • • Acts 2:27, 31: Quoting Psalm 16:10, Peter applies the concept to Jesus, declaring that God did not abandon His soul to Hades, nor let His flesh see decay. Here, Hades functions as the temporary domain of the dead.
    • Revelation 20:13-14: Personified as a companion to Death, Hades is described as giving up the dead that were in it for the final judgment, after which both Death and Hades are thrown into the "lake of fire" (symbolizing their ultimate destruction).

2. A Place of Suffering and Contrast (The Rich Man and Lazarus)

The most detailed description of Hades given by Jesus appears in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:22-26.

• • • Unlike the flat "equalizer" view of early Old Testament Sheol where everyone went to the same shadows, Jesus portrays Hades as a partitioned realm.
    • It contains a place of comfort—often associated with "Abraham's bosom" or Paradise—separated by a "great chasm" from a place of torment and agony in flames.

3. Spiritual Invasiveness ("The Gates of Hades")

In Matthew 16:18, Jesus tells Peter, "On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it."

• • • In ancient architecture, city gates were symbols of strength, defense, and power.
    • By promising that the "gates of Hades" will not prevail against His church, Jesus uses military imagery. He portrays the church as an advancing force breaking down the defensive doors of death, implying that death and the underworld will not be able to hold back the expansion of God's kingdom or permanently keep bound those who belong to Christ.
    • Caesarea Philippi (modern-day Banias), located at the southwestern base of Mount Hermon in northern Israel, very close to the modern border with Lebanon.

In antiquity, this specific site literally had a reputation known as the "Gates of Hell" (or the Gates of Hades).

The geography and history behind that title shed a lot of light on why the area earned that name:

• • • The Cave and the Underground Spring: At the base of a massive rock cliff in Caesarea Philippi, there was (and still is) a deep natural cave opening. In ancient times, a massive spring gushed directly out of this opening, feeding into a pool of turbulent water before flowing down into a gorge.
    • The Realm of Pan and the Dead: To the ancient pagans (Canaanites, Greeks, and Romans), caves and deep subterranean water sources were viewed as literal thresholds between the living world and the underworld. The Greeks dedicated the site to Pan, the god of nature, wild places, and caves. They believed the deep, fathomless spring inside the cave was an actual portal where the gods and spirits traveled back and forth between earth and Hades.
    • Sacrifices: Because it was viewed as an entrance to the underworld, worshippers engaged in intense pagan rituals there. Historical records and local traditions indicate that sacrifices—including livestock—were thrown into the gaping mouth of the cave; if the rushing water swallowed them or if the water churned red, it was interpreted as the gods accepting the offering. Shrines and niches were carved directly into the stone cliff face to honor various deities.

The Connection to Jesus

This location is widely believed by historians and theologians to be the exact backdrop for a famous moment in the Gospels.

In Matthew 16:18, right after standing in this region surrounded by pagan temples, shrines, and a literal cave nicknamed the "Gate of Hades," Jesus turns to Peter and says:

"And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it."

Many biblical scholars point out that Jesus wasn't just using a random figure of speech. Standing physically in front of the legendary, idol-worshipping "Gates of Hell" in Caesarea Philippi, He was drawing a sharp contrast: declaring that His spiritual community (the church) would go on the offensive, and that even the darkest powers of death and the underworld could not withstand it.

4. Defeated by Christ (The Keys of Hades)

A major theological shift in the New Testament is the belief that Jesus conquered death and the grave.

• • • Revelation 1:17-18: The risen Jesus appears to John and declares, "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades."
    • This signifies that Jesus holds absolute authority over the underworld, having broken its power through His resurrection.

 

Take a look at Psalm 18:5

New International Version

The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me.

 

New Living Translation

The grave wrapped its ropes around me; death laid a trap in my path.

 

English Standard Version

the cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me.

 

Berean Standard Bible

The cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me.

 

Berean Literal Bible

The cords of Sheol surrounded me; the snares of Death confronted me.

 

King James Bible

The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me.

 

New King James Version

The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me; The snares of death confronted me.

 

New American Standard Bible

The ropes of Sheol surrounded me; The snares of death confronted me.

 

NASB 1995

The cords of Sheol surrounded me; The snares of death confronted me.

 

NASB 1977

The cords of Sheol surrounded me; The snares of death confronted me.

 

Legacy Standard Bible

The cords of Sheol surrounded me; The snares of death confronted me.

 

Amplified Bible

The cords of Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead) surrounded me; The snares of death confronted me.

 

Berean Annotated Bible

The cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me.

 

Christian Standard Bible

The ropes of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me.

 

Holman Christian Standard Bible

The ropes of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me.

 

American Standard Version

The cords of Sheol were round about me; The snares of death came upon me.

 

Contemporary English Version

Ropes from the world of the dead had coiled around me, and death had set a trap in my path.

 

English Revised Version

The cords of Sheol were round about me: the snares of death came on me.

 

GOD'S WORD® Translation

The ropes of the grave had surrounded me. The clutches of death had confronted me.

 

Good News Translation

The danger of death was around me, and the grave set its trap for me.

 

International Standard Version

The cords of Sheol surrounded me; the snares of death confronted me.

 

NET Bible

The ropes of Sheol tightened around me, the snares of death trapped me.

 

New Heart English Bible

The cords of Sheol were around me. The snares of death came on me.

 

Webster's Bible Translation

The sorrows of hell encompassed me: the snares of death seized me.

Majority Text Translations

Majority Standard Bible

The cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me.

 

World English Bible

The cords of Sheol were around me. The snares of death came on me.

Literal Translations

Literal Standard Version

Cords of Sheol have surrounded me, "" Snares of death have been before me.

 

Berean Literal Bible

The cords of Sheol surrounded me; the snares of Death confronted me.

 

Young's Literal Translation

Cords of Sheol have surrounded me, Before me have been snares of death.

 

Smith's Literal Translation

The pains of hades surrounded me: the snares of death anticipated me.

Catholic Translations

Douay-Rheims Bible

The sorrows of hell encompassed me: and the snares of death prevented me.

 

Catholic Public Domain Version

The sorrows of Hell encompassed me, and the snares of death intercepted me.

 

New American Bible

The cords of Sheol encircled me; the snares of death lay in wait for me.

 

New Revised Standard Version

the cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me.

Translations from Aramaic

Lamsa Bible

The travail of Sheol has taken hold of me: the snares of death preceded me.

 

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated

The destructions of Sheol surrounded me and the snares of death were before me.

OT Translations

JPS Tanakh 1917

The cords of Sheol surrounded me; The snares of Death confronted me.

 

Brenton Septuagint Translation

The pangs of hell came round about me: the snares of death prevented me.