Biblical Hell

So, what does the Bible say about Hell? The Bible does talk about hell and seems to talk about it very often:

These are just a few examples of the many examples of Hell found in the Bible, Hell can be found in a lot of places.

However, this seems to be only true in the original king James translation (and other derived/inspired versions) [1] in the newer non-King James translations; the original word “Hell” is now often translated as “Grave”, “Depths”, or “Realm of the Dead”:

But then “hell” is translated as “realm of the dead” or simply “the grave” in other non-King James translations:

This leads to much fewer mentions of hell existing in these newer translations (almost all of them in the New Testament) [2]

So, this is a little confusing: which is it? Is it Hell? Is it the Grave? Or is it the Realm of the Dead? Or is it all the same thing? These different translations make the concept of Hell confusion for someone trying to really understand it from a Biblical perspective. So, we definitely need some clarity when it comes to the Biblical hell.

The original language that the Bible was written in was not English (and most likely any other language you read it in) it was written in Hebrew and then Greek THEN had to be translated into other languages by scholars (like English).

So, if you read a Bible in English you need to know that the word “Hell” was NOT the original word used there. In fact, through the entire Bible, the English word “Hell” is used to translate four different words; three which mean entirely different things in the original Hebrew and Greek! (This is why it’s important to study words in the Bible in the original language: because you might discover one word in English means an entirely different thing in the original Language.)

This is shown in the verses above: all of them are translated as Hell BUT each one is originally the four different words!

So, let’s look at these four words translated as “hell” and see what they originally meant:

(Can be used to 'bookmark' a section of this article and come back to a specific section later)

There’s only one word that is usually translated to “hell” in the entire Old Testament (and this is mostly all the “hells” found in the King James Version) that is the Hebrew word, “שְׁאוֹל” (sheh-ole') This word means “Underworld/grave” [3] and this word is used all throughout the Old Testament

(The King James Version will be looked at because “Sheol” is mostly translated as Hell, but even in King James notice it’s sometimes translated as “The Grave”)

“For my soul is full of troubles: and… my life draweth nigh unto the grave (Sheol)."

The first thing that can be concluded studying about this word “Sheol” in the Bible is a place that dead humans (but could also symbolically mean nations) go to:

David even says the closer you get to dying (death) the closer you are to going to Sheol (translated here in English as “The Pit”)

“…my life draws near to death. I am counted among those who go…to the pit (sheol);…”

This agrees with the main perception that Hell is a place where dead humans go after death; this seems to be true for this “Old Testament Hell” Sheol.

This place is also described as being in a downward direction from the surface of the earth:

So, the Bible reveals the direction of this place Sheol; from the surface of the earth, it is in a downward direction below the surface (under the earth somewhere) this is exactly how sheol is described as: the earth below

“…they are…destined…for the earth below,… mortals who go down to the realm of the dead (Sheol).”

So this place is NOT in the sun or not in another planet or dimension (or at least it’s not described like that) but is a place described as being physically under the surface of Earth. This agrees with the main Christian perception that Hell is a place within Planet Earth.

HOWEVER, Hell is supposed to be a place of fiery punishment only for Evil/unbelieving people, is this supported in these Biblical descriptions of Sheol?

While the Bible does say God sends evil people to this place as their punishment:

“Therefore Sheol has enlarged its appetite and opened its mouth beyond measure; the nobility of Jerusalem and her multitude go down(to Sheol), her throng and all who exult in her.”

Sheol is not just limited to evil people: According to the entire Old Testament, ALL Humans; no matter if they were good or evil, go to this place when they die:

“All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. ‘No,’ he said, ‘I will continue to mourn until I join my son in the Grave (sheol).’ So his father wept for him.”

(Apparently, whatever this place was, Israel (Jacob) thought his murdered (dead) son , Joseph, was there now.)

And many other righteous people of God also went to this place, so it seems all humans go to this place at death simply because they are mortal (going to die eventually) not necessarily because their good or bad.

“…they (Humans) are all destined for death,…mortals who go down to the realm of the dead (Sheol).”

If Sheol (Hell) is a place of fiery eternal torment for evil people/people who don’t know God, then why are all these loyal righteous humans of God going there? This does not match up with the common Christian perception; that Hell is a fiery place of torment for only the wicked. When someone died/was going to die they would say to someone (or a nation) who died “went to sheol”.

The only time in the entire Old Testament that Sheol is associated with fire is in Deuteronomy; when God says he will make a destructive fire out from anger:

So does this mean Sheol is a fiery place? Not exactly, if you read the entire verse the fire is burning the WHOLE EARTH:

This is a massive fire that’s burning up the entire world and everything in it: The crops, trees, and even the foundations of the very mountains!

So this place seems to be on fire, but only because the whole earth, even under the earth, is on fire! It also says this place is burning up itself (with the rest of Earth) not that there’s a continuous fire lit here.

So this “Old Testament Hell” Sheol seems to not be necessarily be a fiery place, is there any other descriptions of this place?

Yes, there is some, as we read some descriptions there are other words that seem to be used as synonyms to Sheol and describe more about what it’s like:

The darkness is emphasized as being extremely dark (the only thing that is seen)!

So Sheol is a very very dark chaotic place of ruin with a gate (or opening) that entering in it is like going down into dust (dirt); though this does not sound like a nice place to be, there is no description of fire or torture though. So what exactly is this strange place?

There is one verse where this “Old Testament Hell” Sheol is strongly hinted for what it actually is, and that is in Numbers when God opened up a literal hole in the ground to make rebellious Israelites fall into this hole:

“ The ground under the men opened up(Sheol) and swallowed them alive, together with their families and everything they owned. Then the ground closed back up, and they were gone.”

In English it says the ground opened up, but in the original Hebrew it says Sheol opened up!

So God opened up Hell! But once again there seems to be no description of a horrible fiery (possibly interdimensional portal) hole opening up: it just says the literal ground underneath them opened up and they fell in it.[4]

So this seems to strongly hint, that this place Sheol, is nothing more than a physical hole in the ground!

But is that it? A physical hole in the ground? not exactly: There are other synonyms used for Sheol:

“…I brought it down to the realm of the dead (Sheol) to be with those who go down to the pit.”

“…I am counted among those who go down to the pit (Sheol) ;… like the slain who lie in the grave,…”

“As a cloud vanishes and is gone, so one who goes down to the grave(sheol)…”

So what all these parallel words seem to be saying is that Sheol is a hole in the ground where dead humans go: basically in our modern language Sheol IS nothing more than the physical grave where DEAD humans are buried!

“The Old Testament Hell” Sheol is an extremely dark, depressing, physical place under the surface of the earth where all humans (no matter if they were good or bad/knew God or didn’t know God) go to, simply because their mortal (capable of dying) and where things are chaotic and are in ruin and has an entrance in the dirt.

These descriptions do not necessarily make sense for a literal Christian concept of a fiery hell where soul/conciseness are punished with torture. But it makes much more sense if Sheol is the literal grave!

Because the grave is also a dark place, because once the body is buried there is no light because it’s usually completely covered by dirt. It’s a physical place under the surface (because it’s buried): it is literally the earth below. It has a gate (or opening) where the person descends into the dust (or dirt) in a grave the entrance is literally the hole in the ground and when a body or casket goes down they literally descend into the dirt! It’s a place that causes sadness (if all these descriptions didn’t do that already) being at the gravesite is usually saddening (not even considering what happens below it). Because below in this place, ruin and chaos happens. Though this ruining or chaos is not necessarily explained directly in the bible it is strongly hinted in the Book of Job where Job describes more about this corruption that goes on in “Sheol”:

The Bible in the book of Job strongly hints this is the type of destruction going on here:

“…I say to corruption (In the original Hebrew: a pit where there’s destruction or ruin), ‘You are my father,’

and to the worm, ‘My mother’ or ‘My sister,’…Will we descend together into the dust(dirt)…”

So this type of destruction going on in the grave (Sheol) has to do with worms and dust (dirt), this “corruption” is describing Decomposition: Where after death, the body begins to break down with the help of decomposers (two being WORMS AND MAGGOTS!) and eventually turns into simpler organic materials (like DIRT or DUST!)

So it seems the Grave is chaotic and a land of ruin because of the decomposing of the dead bodies: and this is 100% accurate! Under the grave in the dirt, where the dead bodies are buried, worms and others decomposers help the body decompose until nothing is left but dirt (and possibly a skeleton).

And the Bible does not say or even hint once a dead human is in the grave that there is some type of portal that sends them to the common human perception of hell like some might try to add, it describes Sheol as nothing more as a physical hole in the ground: a Grave (where most dead humans are buried!)

If you want to see where the “Old Testament hell” Sheol is; the place where dead humans go to after death, you need not wait any longer: just go to your local cemetery and look around: there it is! Or even better and more specific wait for an actual funeral and at the gravesite go over to the hole dug for the casket and look in it: There’s Sheol: “The Old Testament Hell” according to the Bible!

This also is very scientific (Truthful) no truthful/scientific person in their right mind would deny all this! That after death the dead were buried in a grave! And that exactly what the Bible says happens:

The nation’s version of Sheol(The Grave) is being attacked/abandoned until the former structures are ruined and nothing but ruins remain:

“…I will make you dwell in the earth below, as in ancient ruins, with those who go down to the pit(Sheol),…”

So a nation goes to the grave when it’s attacked until the whole nation’s structures are destroyed.

Some ,however, might say Sheol and the grave are not referring to the same thing because there is a whole other Hebrew word used for the grave: so therefore Sheol cannot be referring to the physical grave but are just similar words sometimes associated with one another: therefore, Sheol must refer to something else: is this true?

It is absolutely true There is an entirely different word used for grave in Hebrew apart from Sheol: this word is the Hebrew “קֶבֶר” (keh'-ber) and its always used to refer to a physical grave or set of graves while Sheol is almost never: So this is absolutely true! this one word is used primarily to refer to the physical grave.[5]

So does this mean that the grave and Sheol are two entirely different things? And therefore Sheol could not be refereeing to the physical grave but rather be refereeing to some type of afterlife underground?

Not exactly, yes The Grave and Sheol are technically are not the same because they are different words that refer to different things: The grave refers to either a specific physical grave or group of physical graves While Sheol seems to refer to a general area underground that generally refers to all graves/dead on earth. (As proved above, Sheol does not necessarily seem to refer to a type of afterlife for human Souls underground but just seems to refer to a hole in the ground: or better yet the general underground area where physical graves are dug.)

The exact same thing could be said about the word the “pit” there is an entirely different Hebrew word used to refer to a cistern or pit: now a cistern or pit is entirely different from a grave: Both are totally different words that refer to different things: a pit just refers to a hole in the ground like a well or storage pit while a grave is usually a hole in the ground/cave that is used to put a dead body in. But even though they are two different words used to refer to two different things, the word for the pit is sometimes used as a synonym to refer to the grave! (as covered above) In the same way Sheol and the grave are technically two different things but are often used as synonyms!

So what specifically is Sheol? Sheol seems to be a general place underground where graves are usually dug and bodies are buried. Here are the technical terms between Sheol, The grave, and Pit:

Sheol- the general area underground where graves are dug: all dead humans together

So does this mean Sheol is not refereeing to the physical grave because there is another word for that? No Sheol is technically just referencing to any area underground but considering how its described and used above it most definitely is referring to the physical grave but instead of a specific one or a set of graves its referring to ALL OF THEM!

Sheol is referring to a literal place: that is 6ft or so under the earth that a hole was dug for a dead person’s body, BUT even this word is really just another word/way to say/describe Death! In this culture (and many others), Israelites would dig a hole in the ground to bury the dead person’s body! So the physical grave only made sense to describe what happened before to cause it: Death.

This is seen when Israel (Jacob) is mourning for his dead son who had went to Sheol (the Grave):

Now Joseph was not in a literal grave (That is, buried somewhere underneath the earth): because his body was never found to be buried, if your read earlier all that was found was Joseph’s coat; Israel was told he was torn alive by a wild animal (and his body supposedly eaten) so there would be no body to bury. But his son, however, was thought to be dead!

But Jonah was not buried alive deep underground in a physical grave somewhere asking God to get him unburied. In fact, he was not in dirt of any kind: The Bible says he was inside of the stomach of a giant fish under the ocean!

‘In my distress I called to the Lord,…From deep in the realm of the dead (Sheol) I called for help,…’ ”

Jonah was not inside of a physical grave; he was not anywhere near land. But yet he said he was in the grave, why? Because, even though his physical body would never be found by any human being to be buried in an actual grave because he was inside of a fish in the ocean, this fishes stomach was going to be his personal grave because he was going to die here in this stomach and his physical body was going to be digested by the fish.

Not everyone who dies gets to be buried (go to Sheol: a physical grave) because sometimes there’s no body to bury: the body could have been eaten (like Jonah), burnt to ashes, blown up, lost, ect. But the point is they’re dead! So though Israel said the grave, what he really meant by that was he wanted to be dead like his son too!

This also makes sense why Death and Sheol are often used as synonyms in the Bible:

“…They too…had gone down to the realm of the dead (Sheol), to those killed by the sword(murdered in Battle),…”

And this is also why Sheol can be a punishment: an early/horrible death is a punishment for evil people/rebellious people.

So when a person went to sheol the ancient Israelites were really saying they went to their Grave (they had died).They did not really describe a person’s soul/consciousness after death in Sheol (while there are some verses in the Old Testament that seem to describe a type of afterlife in Sheol, they are not directly mentioned here, they will be covered later) this mainly was the only place/afterlife described by The Isrealites as going to after death; the Grave: and it’s described as nothing like the Hell many humans picture as being underground.

In fact, this is what the original word for the English world for “hell” actually meant.

“Hell” comes from the old English word ‘ᚻᛖᛚ”/“hel” (Hail-luh) meaning “A concealed place”. Usually this Concealment referred to the covering of a dead corpse/other items over the hole that was dug for them with dirt, but could also refer to a place where their spirit went when they died in the lower parts under the Earth.[6]

This Old English word was chosen by the early English authors who used it to translate the Hebrew word “Sheol” originally even the English word did not refer to a fiery place of punishment but a hole in the ground that was filled with dirt too: a perfect old English translation to the Hebrew one that has become misunderstood.

Even though “Sheol” was the only thing to describe life after death, there were many prophecies of a future fiery destruction of the wicked and evil humans spoken off first by God himself:

“For a fire will be kindled(made) by my wrath, One that burns down to the realm of the dead below(Underground). It will devour the earth and its harvests and set afire the foundations of the mountains.”

It means a powerful fire that will begin by God’s anger will completely burn up the Earth And then the prophet’s talk about this future destructive fire; like In Isaiah, there is a prophecy taking about this punishment in the time frame in the distant future when:

This time frame is when all of Humanity is worshiping God (as opposed to worshiping pagan Gods/devils) and the Earth and Heavens are made new again (the same time frame is talked about in revelation 21 after Jesus comes back to earth.) So we can conclude this is a prophecy still in the future. then it talks about the destructive fire for the wicked:

“And they (the righteous) will Go out and look upon…those who rebelled against me; their worm (that eats their body) will not die, nor will their fire be quenched (stopped), and they will be loathsome (hated/despised) to all mankind.”

This fire is for the wicked (in this context: the people who rebelled against God) It also says that they have worms, these worms are a specific type of worms in the original Hebrew means a maggot. Which a maggot is a baby fly (in pupal stage) that eats dead bodies. So these people have maggots in their body and would also be hated by the righteous humans.

Malachi 4 also talks about this fiery “hell” also in a future context on “the day or the lord” (the day Jesus returns again to earth)

“Surely the day of the lord is coming; it will burn like a furnace(A hot fire!)… the day that is coming will set them(evil and arrogant people) on fire. ”

Does this scenes sound familiar? Like our modern concept of hell today? Where they would be tormented in eternal fire? People screaming in burning fiery pain? So we read confirmation there is a hell with fire, which will burn wicked people!

But was this happening now at this very moment in the center of the earth or deep in the ground somewhere? Or somewhere in the spiritual world/other planet? The hard truth is: NO!

This passage needs really no more explanation; it is 100% clear to what the lord through his prophet is saying:

We see first of all, 100% percent assured, this punishment for the wicked IS IN THE FUTURE, when? On the day of the lord: when Jesus Christ second coming happens: so it still remains in the future, this future event is the closest thing to our perception of hell described in the bible so far! But the prophets did not say it was happening while they were saying it, they clearly said it was going to be a future reality not a reality for our time. This is something the Christian world has little or no grasp on today yet the prophets said it really clearly!

According to Isaiah, the evil people who are in this fire will not be tormented forever they will die:

“And they (the righteous) will go out and look on the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me;…”

So after they are thrown in this fire they will eventually die and there will be dead bodies in this area to look at: So how will they die? Malachi reveals how: These evil people will eventually turn into ash in the fire:

“’…All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble(ash),’… says the Lord Almighty. ‘Not a root or a branch will be left to them.’”

“ ‘Then you (righteous) will trample down the wicked; they will be ashes under your feet on the day when I do these things.’ Says the lord almighty.”

It did not say anything about eternal torment it said the exact opposite: they would not be tormented for all eternity when this event happened, they simply would be burn up/dead.

This agrees with Jeremiah 19:3-6, nowhere in the Bible (except in Luke 16, Matthew 25:40-41, and Revelation 20:10 which all of them can be logically explained to not mean eternal torment and will be later) does it say the wicked burn in hell for eternity it simply says in the clearest way I can put it: they will be burnt to ashes (be physically destroyed). This is what the prophets described anyhow!

In fact In Psalms 37 and Psalms 68 King David wrote about the destruction of the wicked in this fire that:

“the wicked will perish (die):...they will be consumed (in fire), they will go up in smoke.”

Psalms 68:1-2
“May God arise, may his enemies be scattered; may his foes flee before him. May you blow them away like smoke—as wax melts before the fire, may the wicked perish (die) before God.”

Said that the wicked would not be tormented forever, but simply destroyed out of existence by the fire (turn into smoke/vanish away).

This is matches far more to what a merciful God would do! To not let humans suffer in fire forever but to kill evil people who want nothing to do with him and/or rebelled against him.

So that’s all the mention of “Hell”(and descriptions associated with our concept of hell) in the Old Testament, so let’s look at the word translated as “hell” in the New Testament

In the New Testament: after 400 years from the Old Testament there developed New Greek phrases to describe hell. Hell, though having different names, turns out to be basically a mirror copy of what is described in the Old Testament about hell.

The first one was ”ᾍδης” (Pronounced: hah-deze): “Hades” was a Greek term borrowed from the Greek word for “the underworld”. The Greeks believed that once someone died their soul/conscience went to hades to be judged either to live in an eternal paradise (Elysium) if they lived a good life, or to an eternal punishment (Tartarus) if they lived an evil life.[7]

What is even more confusing about the hell, in the New Testament, is that Jesus himself after death was going to hell!

“ ‘because you will not abandon…[Jesus]…to the realm of the dead (Hades),…’”

“For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth (referring to hades).”

is this confusing or what? Jesus was blameless; he did not sin, so why did he go to hell? To beat up the demons and Satan?

In Acts 2:27, the apostle Peter quotes a verse that has the Old Testament word “Sheol” in it and shows that this verse is a prophecy to Jesus Christ. Here the Greek word “hades” is substituted for the Hebrew “sheol”.

‘because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead (Hades[originally Sheol]),

This is proven even more with how “Hades” is also sometimes translated as “The realm of the dead” and “the Grave” just like “Sheol”:

And ultimately, it is described as a place where decay (of dead bodies) happens; exactly like “Sheol”!

“Seeing what was to come, he spoke of…the Messiah [Jesus], that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead (Hades), nor did his body see decay (Decomposition).”

This all goes to show, Hades was not necessarily a judging in the afterlife, but was really just a Greek word used to symbolize the area underground where dead people go (which hades in the Greek religion was considered underground anyways). It was The Equivalent of the Old Testament Hebrew word “Sheol” in the Bible. So, Hades means no difference from the meaning of the Hebrew Sheol: they’re both referring to the same place.

In light of all this, Jesus going to hell, is not confusing when we find out the original word used for hell it was this word Hades which did not mean, a fiery "hell", but THE GRAVE or DEATH

Jesus going to the grave makes much more sense, because he did die and was buried in Joseph’s tomb. Jesus fighting demons and suffering hellfire with some of us makes some sense, but Jesus dying a human death and being buried with all of us makes 100% sense!

The only other way “Hades” seems to be used is in place names named after this Greek Afterlife:

In this particular verse, Jesus was most likely referring to an actual location, because they were at Mt Hermon:

“…When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi (the location of Mt. Hermon),…”

This is the place where Greeks (and Greek converts) worshiped the God Pan and believed in a cave there, that Pan could come through a watery spring portal in it called the “Gates of Hades (Hell)”:[8] In this verse, he was saying that no force of evil (symbolized by the gates of hell) would be able to stop his Church.

“…anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell(Gehenna).”

“…It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell(Gehenna).”

“…be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell(Gehenna).”

“It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell,(Gehenna)…”

This term, however, was only used by Jesus speaking in his three-year ministry to people/his disciples in Judea and Galilee; why? Because only the Jews in Judea/Galilee around the 1st century A.D. and before would have understood this term, because…

“Gehenna” was the Greek term for the original Hebrew name “Ben-Hennon”: Which was the name of a valley right outside of the city of Jerusalem.

The valley was named after a son of Hinnom (“Ben” means “Son” in Hebrew): an Israelite

But after many centuries, this place eventually became a major area of idolatry and child sacrifice, but when a righteous king of Judah (Josiah) took over; he ruined this area by dumping trash everywhere and made it into a large garbage dump.

“He (Josiah) desecrated Topheth, which was in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, so no one could use it to sacrifice their son or daughter in the fire to Molek.”

And ever since this time, this valley was used by Jerusalem (and surrounding places) as a massive garbage dump and became infamous all over Judea and beyond as a massive dump.[9] So when Jesus said to his Jewish listeners that the wicked and disobedient humans would go to “Gehenna” they clearly understood he was referring to this massive garbage dump outside of Jerusalem; however most readers who did not live in Judea/Galilee or even in the 1 A.D. would be clueless about this illustration.

Just to get a picture of what it was like, If you walked out to this place in the time of Christ here is what you would see:

Trash and Dead bodies everywhere, fires lit all the time consuming dead humans, animal flesh, and trash until it all turned into a heap of smelly smoldering ash. You would see maggots eating up the rotten flesh of the dead bodies trashed everywhere. And criminals being dumped into the fire to be cremated (turned into ash).

But what did Jesus mean by saying the evil and wicked of humanity would go to “Gehenna”? Did he actually mean God would put them all on fire in this garbage dump? Not Exactly,

When Jesus said “Geheena” he was actually referring to the exact same fiery punishment talked about in the Old Testament because Jesus himself says this Geheena is the exact punishment prophesied in Isaiah:

So, Jesus was not speaking of a new fiery punishment he was using this term as symbolism for the

prophetic fiery punishment talked about in the Old Testament: so, in other words, “Geheena” is the New Testament’s version of the Old Testament’s fiery punishment.

This is what Christ wanted the Judean crowd to picture, he wasn’t taking literally about the dump itself, but he was comparing it to what this punishment for the ungodly humans who rejected Gods laws would be: because Jesus knew the Judean crowd knew about this fiery punishment already from the Old Testament. What he was doing was comparing this future punishment to an actually physical place they could look and see for themselves: it was something that they could see in their day so they would clearly get the picture of what rebellious humans were in for!

It’s important to see that he compared the fiery place of punishment (which is also the traditional view of Hell) to this specific place, to describe the punishment of humans who reject him or his ways. The local Jews of the place (the audience Jesus was speaking to) would have clearly gotten the comparison.

This same punishment is also referred to by more vague names by Jesus (and his cousin John):

“...Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

When the disciples left Judea/Galilee to preach the Gospel they had to use different terms to the non-Judeans to describe the same hell Jesus described to the Judeans. Since they were not from Jerusalem or Judea/Galilee they would have no gotten the term “Geheena” because they did not know what this place was, so they used other general terms they would understand:

“…were thrown into the lake of fire. …Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.”

John, describing the wicked’s punishment in the eternal fire (like Malachi did) Describes the fire that would consume them would be a massive fire and (agreeing with Peter) would be everywhere (like a boat on a lake of water) he seem to be surrounded by fire!

Paul in 2 Thessalonians describes it as “Everlasting Destruction” and “Shut out from his (God’s) presence”

“…He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord...”

Notice also, unlike the direction of “going down” found with “Sheol/Hades”[The Grave], This fiery punishment is talked about as like a very fiery furnace that a human has to be thrown/tossed into:

“...Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

“…Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.”

These descriptions describe this fiery place of punishment as a place lower or in a different location than humans at this time, and that evil/wicked humans will end up being thrown into this place.

The New Testament also says it pretty clearly that this is not happening right now at the center of the Earth somewhere or on another planet/dimension but is a futuristic event that will happen on the day of the lord and physically affect/take place on all the Earth and beyond:

In a parable, Jesus describing the destruction of the wicked (just like Malaki and Isaiah did), Jesus himself also agrees this fiery punishment will happen at the end of the age when he returns

“As the weeds ( a symbol for the wicked) are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age(The return of Jesus).”

Peter agrees with God himself in Deuteronomy, that the Earth (and also heavens) as we know them now are destined to be burned by this massive fire on the Day of Judgment.

"…the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly."

So, despite two new words being used in the New Testament to refer to the place after death and fiery punishment, they are actually the exact same references to the original Hebrew words translated “hell” in the Old Testament:

The original word is the Greek word “ταρταρόω” (Tar-tar-ooh) referring to “Tartaroo/Tartarus” which was the Greek place of punishment in the afterlife for evil/rebellious humans and gods to be constantly tortured for their evil.[10]

So according to Peter, this was actually a real place, but the key thing to understand here is this is a place for sinful Angles not necessarily sinful humans or humans of any kind. Peter continues to describe what this place is like:

“God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell(Tartarus), putting them in chains of darkness...”

In the original Greek, “Chains of Darkness” is “σειραῖς ζόφου” (see-rah-yis dzof'-os) with “σειρά” or “Sirah” meaning “a chain or dark pit” and “ζόφος” “Zophos” meaning “saddening/terrifying darkness” together they could either be translated as “chains of Darkness” (meaning they are chained up in a very dark/saddening location) or “pits of darkness” (meaning they are trapped in a very dark/saddening pit). Though the translation seems to be leaning towards “Pits of Darkness” either translation describes the place evil Angels go to (Tartarus) like a depressing prison: this actually seems to be what this place is for; to keep these angles trapped here as a punishment.[11]

So, this is the only mention of this “hell” (That is Tartarus) which is originally a Greek term for the punishment in the afterlife; Like Jesus, Peter seems to borrow this word from its original use and gives it a symbolic meaning for the place angels go to for sinning (either this or the Greek afterlife of Tartarus was originally referring to this place). But even though Tartarus was a punishment in the afterlife for both humans and gods, here Tartarus is exclusively for angels, not humans. But like Sheol/Hades, it is described as a dark and depressing place possibly under the earth (While the location of this place is not described, It was believed that Tartarus was under the Earth with Hades and if the word “Sirah” is supposed to mean “pit” [that means a hole in the ground] that would strongly hint to Tartarus being under the earth somewhere) , the only difference being that these angels are trapped here against their will and cannot seem to leave rather than being buried here after dying.

Even though this term is never mentioned again, this place is mentioned other times directly and indirectly in the New Testament:

“…the angels who did not keep their positions of authority (sinned)…these he (God) has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains…”

Here the exact same place is directly referenced and described almost the same way as Peter.

This place also might be referred indirectly in Revelation as “The Abyss/Bottomless pit”:

“And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him,..”

The original word for “Abyss” here is the Greek word “ἀβύσσου” (pronounced auh-boohuh-sows) it means a very deep hole/area. So, if this place is an indirect reference to Tartarus then it would definitely be like a very deep hole or pit.[12]

Notice how Satan/The Devil (which is a sinful/rebellious angel) is chained up and thrown into this place and is trapped there. If this is referring to this place (which it strongly seems to be) then it would definitely be a prison for rebellious angels to keep them from causing trouble.

In another verse in Revelation, the Abyss is not mentioned by name but is referred to as it says four angels are trapped in/under a physical location on Earth:

“..I heard a voice coming from the four horns of the golden altar... It said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, ‘Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.' And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released…”

It says four Angles are trapped in/under the Euphrates River; that is a river in the Mideast. And they had to be unbound from their location so they could leave. If this is the same place/area as the Abyss/Tartarus(as it seems it is because these are angles that are trapped her like in The Abyss/Tartarus) then this prison seems to be on Earth in/under things: like these angles are said to be bound physically under a river.

Ultimately this place seems like a prison only for Fallen Angels (the term for angles who rebelled against God and sinned) humans don’t seem to go to this “Hell” (Tartarus).

In conclusion, In the Bible (that is, by closely looking at the original words and examining the context and descriptions) the English word “Hell” is not referring to a fiery spiritual place of torcher but rather to three entirely different things: “Sheol and “Hades” is referring to the physical grave (or death), “Geheenah” refers to the future fiery punishment of rebellious humans, and “Tartarus” and “Abyss” is referring to the prison for rebellious angles. Though these Hell’s do not necessarily match the main view of a horrible fiery place of toucher, the Bible does reveal, however, there is going to be a fiery torcher for evil/wicked humans; this is the “Geheenah Hell”. However, there is a major problem with this being an afterlife: According to almost all descriptions of this punishment, it is not happening right now somewhere in the center of the earth/other dimension the Bible says pretty clearly that it remains in the future not now. So, if this is true then why do some verses in the Bible seem to say people immediately go to hell when they die (as covered above)? And does anyone really go to hell now, even though hell is a future event? Let's find out for sure.

Strong’s Hebrew: 7585. שְׁאוֹל (sheh-ole')-- underworld (place to which people descend at death) from Biblehub

[A] Strong’s Greek: 86. ᾍδης (hah'-dace)-- Hades, the abode of departed spirits by Biblehub

[A] So that the world may know by Ray Vander Laan “Scenes from Caesarea Philippi: The Grotto of Pan”

[B] Elliot Ritzema’s blog “Caesarea Philippi and the Gates of Hell” on November 12, 2016 by Elliot Ritzema

[A] Strong’s Greek: 1067. γέεννα (gheh’-en-nah)--Gehenna, a valley west and South of Jerusalem, also a symbolic name for the final place of punishment of the ungodly by Biblehub

[A] Strong’s Greek: 5020. ταρταρόω (tar-tar-o'-o)--to cast into hell by Biblehub

[B] World History Encyclopedia “The After-Life In Ancient Greece” by Joshua J. Mark on 18 January 2012

[C] Strong’s Greek: 12. ἄβυσσος (ab'-us-sos)--boundless, bottomless by Biblehub

Hell

According to the Bible