Theme Text– ‘O that thou wouldest hide me in SHEOL’ (Job 14:13)
1) What really is hell in the Old Testament?
Translators of the King James Bible rendered the Hebrew word SHEOL (65 occurrences) as below words in English –
1) grave (31 times)/ pit (3 times)
2) hell (31 times)
They translated SHEOL as grave/pit when it was to be the resting place for good people, but rendered the same word as hell when referring to a bad person.
2) Could we look at a couple of examples?
* ‘O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave [SHEOL]… until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me!’ (Job 14:12-13) Here, upright Job pleads God to hide from his pain in SHEOL – to wait asleep until the day of the resurrection. It sure would be bizarre for anyone to pray to God to be sent to hell! So translators used the word grave.
* But in Psalm 86:13, we see the same translators translating the same SHEOL as hell because it’s used in a negative sense -‘Thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell [SHEOL]’.
Scholars see this as a grave error – or rather a hell of an error, should we say? – on the translators’ part.
Grave is the right word in all cases. Any Hebrew expert would confirm SHEOL is grave/pit.
3) So what kind of place is SHEOL?
The Bible actually describes SHEOL! It’s portrayed not as a place of torture, but quite the opposite:
- SHEOL is not a place of raging fire. It’s rather a state of darkness (Job 10:21).
- It’s not a place of agony or suffering. But rather in each case, the context describes SHEOL as a place or condition of silence (Psalm 115:17; 88:11-12).
- Yes, ‘There is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, in the grave [SHEOL] whither thou goest’ (Eccl 9:10).
4) The New Testament is in Greek. What about hell in its books? What’s Greek for SHEOL?
The Greek translation of the Old Testament (the Septuagint) renders SHEOL as HADES. The New Testament writers confirm that.
For eg: Acts 2:27 NASB, ‘You will not abandon my soul to HADES’
It’s a quotation from Psalm 16:10 NASB, ‘You will not abandon my soul to SHEOL’.
But some Bible translators (eg. KJV) let their bias mislead them to mistranslate HADES as hell in verses like Luke 10:15 (ten such occurrences in total).
- ‘And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, shalt be thrust down to hell [HADES]’.
5) Why were these English translators biased – mistranslating the same word into different things?
KJV, one of the famous translations, was done in 1611 AD. By then, pagan hell theories had settled into Christianity over the course of the Dark Ages (more on the history later) and the translators believed in them. That bias made them mistranslate, even as their scholarly minds knew SHEOL/HADES clearly meant GRAVE.
This bias affected other English translations in varying degrees, based on the level of integrity of the translators.
Some reputed translations (YLT, Weymouth, Rotherham’s etc.) avoided any bias. Not even once does the word hell appear in them.
Read Next: Gehenna – Lake of Fire
Matthew 5:22. Yes, the translations get this a bit wrong, but it sounds as if you are denying the reality of hell. That would be a grave error.
Were you paying Any attention?
No it would not! Hell is a pagan myth. If you want to know the truth, doing the research online is easy. If you don't want to do the research, it's either because 1) you agree with the doctrine, you like it, and don't want to change your view, or 2) you are afraid of offending God by questioning the Bible.
Citing Psa 86:13 and suggesting the word "sheol" would be better translated as "grave" does not make sense. Why would David testify God had delivered him from "the lowest grave"? The word "sheol" would best be understood as "the place of the departed spirits" as depicted in Psa 88:10: "Will the departed spirits rise and praise thee?" Thus, allowing "Scripture to interpret Scripture" might go against your interpretation of sheol as "the grave". If "grave' was intended the author could have simply used the Hebrew "kever" to plainly indicate so rather than "sheol".(the unseen, place of departed spirits)
Point is, the KJV "translators" (closer to the world's first mash up of existing translations in a manner that served King James political purposes as new King from Scotland [I think is where he came to London from]) misquoted Psalms by changing the word used in their translation of the OT when they wrote the same line quoted in the NT. Contemplate.
Citing Sheol as the place of departed spirits isn't accurate. Sheol originally meant realm of the dead or the unseen. It wasn't until much later that Psalms 88:10 was rendered "spirits". In the KJV it reads: "Will You work wonders for the dead? Shall the dead arise and praise You? Selah" If there's any question if there are spirits flying around after death, refer to these passages: "For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward" Ecclesiastes 9:5
"If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol (grave), behold, You are there." Psalm 139:8 NAS
"If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell (translation error but still means grave), behold, You are there." NKJV
There are numerous instances of sheol as the majority rendering of grave. Of course, this depending on which translation you are reading and are very obviously rendered death or grave whether you see sheol or hell in the verse.
mjesto Vječne Muke je
OGNJENO JEZERO VJEČNE MUKE
It is an interesting observation, you made about King David, expressing that he was saved, or delivered from something lower, than what is considered, maybe, a normal death.
This could explain, the second death, concept mentioned in Revelations. That second death is more than likely the lowest grave, or a death from which there is no return, being that, the Adamic death is the first death, which all humanity is born into; which is why, Jesus said, let the dead bury the dead (as in those who normally die, because of the Adamic curse.
The second death, would be what King David was delivered from, because of his true repentance of Murder, and Sexual lust.
Just a thought.
Let the dead (ungodly) bury the dead (no longer alive)
considering the story of Lazarus and the rich man, won't it be logically correct to say that Shoel/Hades has different compartments? and that at the moment one side of it is empty because of the resurrection and the victory of Christ Jesus over death?
think about it.
"Translators of the King James Bible rendered the Hebrew word SHEOL (65 occurrences) as below words in English –
1) grave (31 times)/ pit (3 times)
2) hell (31 times)
They translated SHEOL as grave/pit when it was to be the resting place for good people, but rendered the same word as hell when referring to a bad person."
OR the KJV translators INSERTED THEIR THEOLOGY INTO THE TEXT. God did not use the word hell there. God used the word sheol there. Hell isnt the Sheol. Hell is the lake of fire. KJV translators messed up! People read the bible and get the WRONG conclusion because the text was mistranslated due to the translators bias.
The death of Jesus is the core of the gospel. What the bible says about death is vital to our understanding of what happened to Jesus on that cross.
Ecclesiastes 9:4-10
4 For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
5 For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.
6 Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.
7 Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works.
8 Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment.
9 Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun.
10 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave [sheol], whither thou goest.
>but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward
>their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished
>there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave[sheol], whither thou goest That word device , in verse
10, comes from the hebrew Chashab, בַׁ שָ ח , strongs 2803,
https://studybible.info/strongs/H2803
means to think, and is translated as accounting (1), calculate (5), composed (1), consider (3), considered (13), counted (1), counts (1), designer (1), determined (1), devise (13), devised (8), devises (1), devising (1), esteem (2), esteemed (2), execute (1), have (1), impute (1), intend (2), make (2), makers (1), meant (2), mindful (1), plan (2), planned (3), planning (5), plans (4), plotted (1), pondered (1), purposed (3), reckoned (10), regard (1), regarded (8), regards (1), require an accounting (1), scheme (1), schemed (1), seem (1), skillful (1), skillful workman (9), think (3), thought (2), value (1). In the NASB.
In other words those in Sheol do not think. Dead people DO NOT THINK. I repeat, dead people KNOW NOTHING , dead people have NO REWARD (ergo no immediate heaven and no immediate hell), dead people have no WORK so they do nothing, they have no KNOWLEDGE, they CAN NOT THINK, and they have NO WISDOM whatsoever
Now where is the Rich Man? In Hades
Luke 16:23 and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.
Hades = Sheol
Acts 2:27 For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption.
Psalm 16:10 For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.
Compare this to the Rich Man and Lazerus
The rich man Knows things, He has a reward, Solomon says the dead have no reward. The Rich Man has love for his brothers and wisdom. Solomon says dead people have no love or hate. The Rich Man is asking for things, so he is working. Solomon says the dead do not work. And where did Solomon get his doctrines from? God! Both cannot be literally true. They can however both be spiritually true. One being literal, the other being a parable. The context of Ecclesiastes chapter 9 is DEATH. There is nothing in Ecclesiastes 9:4-10 that indicates that Solomon was talking metaphorically. Here is the truth, the rich man and Lazarus is a parable about the Pharisees missing out on the kingdom of God because they love Money more then they love God.
The English word hell has changed and been misused over the years.
The KJV translated Sheol Hades and Tartaroo and Gehennah as hell.
Only one of those words is actually hell, the lake of fire judgement. That word is Gehenna.
The rest are mistranslations.
That word Gehenna is used 12 times in the new testament. Of those 12 times, 11 are used by Jesus. Here is every time that word Gehenna is used in the new testament (Matthew 5:22,29-30, 10:28, 18:9, 23:15, 23:33, Mark 9:43,45,47, Luke 12:5, James 3:6)
https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexi…
This has caused mass confusion in Christianity, especially among the fundamentalists.
People take their bible and read it and come to wrong conclusions because their English bible did not translate the words correctly.
Anyhow lets now look at other scriptures on the state of the dead.
Psalm 30:9
9 What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth?
Who is the dust? David is the dust!
Ecclesiastes 3:18-20 King James Version
18 I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.
19 For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.
20 All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.
Dead people cannot praise God, no human right now is in the grave, sheol, praising God. Compare that to all the NDEs of dead Christians talk about seeing dead relatives praising the lord. Its a deception that they fall for because they do not know the word of God.
Psalm 6:5
5 For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave[sheol] who shall give thee thanks?
I have heard Christians talk how they died and say Grandma singing in the choir with the angels in heaven.
According to the bible that is impossible. Dead people cannot remember God. Compare that to all the NDEs where people supposedly go to hell but then cry out to Jesus to save them. People fall for this (I fell for this) because they do not know the word of God.
Psalm 88:10-12
10 Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah.
11 Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction? 12 Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
The question assumes the negative answer, no.
Psalm 146:2-4
2 While I live will I praise the Lord: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being. 3 Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. 4 His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.
Psalm 115:17
17 The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence.
>The dead praise not the Lord
Grandma is not in heaven praising the lord. Christian NDEs are Christian lies.
This is why you find all sorts of NDEs supporting whatever people want, Reincarnation
Mormonism, Atheism, New Age, Pre-Existence of Souls + Roman Catholicism (that guy did not even know Catholicism officially declared the preexistence of Souls anathema) , NDEs tell people what they want to hear.
Acts 2:34
34 For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,
>For David is not ascended into the heavens
This is after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus; David is still not in heaven! And no one before Jesus came to earth went to heaven
John 3:13
13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.
Isaiah 38:18-19
18 For the grave[sheol] cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.
19 The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth.
Dead people are not in an alternate dimension called hades/sheol/heaven/hell/Abraham's bosom as Christianity and many of the early Church taught. Dead people cease to exist. Dead people are NO MORE, dead people ARE NOT.
Genesis 42:13
13 And they said, Thy servants are twelve brethren, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and, behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is not.
>and one is not
>is not
Notice the dead on IS NOT, if he were in an alternate dimension he would be some place else; heaven, or is in hades/sheol, or in Abraham's bosom, but no the youngest one IS NOT. We in western civilization talk about Grandma being in Heaven looking down on us because we do believe that death is the end. That is the exact opposite of how Joseph's brothers spoke. They believed death was the end. They speak like atheists speak about the dead.
Genesis 42:36
36 And Jacob their father said unto them, Me have ye bereaved of my children: Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away: all these things are against me.
>Joseph is not
>Simeon is not
If Jacob believed in an afterlife he would have said, Joseph is in heaven, or in Abraham's bosom, like we do today.
Jacob did not believe in an afterlife, his hope was in the resurrection of the dead.
He knows the dead are dead.
Lamentations 5:7
7 Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities.
>Our fathers have sinned, and are not
The wages of sin is death. Dead people ARE NOT.
If Jeremiah believed in an afterlife he would have said, Our fathers have sinned and are right now burning in sheol, awaiting judgment day. But no Jeremiah says the dead fathers are not. They have ceased to exist.
Matthew 2:18
18 In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.
>weeping for her children… because they are not.
Compare this to standard Evangelical Teaching that dead babies are right now in heaven, awaiting the millennium to be resurrected. I have seen multiple christina NDEs where people talk about how in heaven they went to the dead baby room where all the aborted babies are hanging out with Jesus. The dead babies have ceased to exist. Dead babies are dead, they do not exist, they are not in heaven, I say they do not exist because that is the language of the bible, they ARE NOT.
Jesus when he died WAS NOT. You cant believe that if you believe the trinity, why? Because in trinity land Jesus is immortal and omniscient, and omnipresent. At no point does Jesus, the logos, actually experience death (nor can he).
Ecclesiastes 9:10
10 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device[thoughts/thinking], nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave[sheol], whither thou goest.
Jesus at no point can experiences this in trinity land. He never experienced non- consciousness because he is everywhere at all times and in all places, and is immortal, you cant kill something that is omnipresent, just as you cannot punch the air. Jesus never stops thinking. He never stopped working. In trinity land Jesus is preaching to dead people before he is vivified (resurrected with a new spirit body). Jesus being the logos never loses his knowledge or wisdom. The trinitarian Jesus never died.
Lets talk about the soul.
Here is another word study to do, nephesh. https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexi…
Genesis 2:7
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul[nephesh].
Body + Spirit = Soul. That is the biblical formula.
If it is alive it is a soul.
Genesis 1:20-21
20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life[nephesh], and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
21 And God created great whales, and every living creature[nephesh], that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
The soul is in the blood
Genesis 9:4-5
4 But flesh with the life[nephesh] thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. 5 And surely your blood of your lives[nephesh] will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life[nephesh] of man.
Souls can die
Exodus 21:23, King James Version 23 And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life[nephesh] for life[nephesh], 30 If there be laid on him a sum of money, then he shall give for the ransom of his life[nephesh] whatsoever is laid upon him.
Ezekiel 18:4,20
4 Behold, all souls[nephesh] are mine; as the soul[nephesh] of the father, so also the soul[nephesh] of the son is mine: the soul[nephesh] that sinneth, it shall die. 20 The soul[nephesh] that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.
Again I repeat
body + spirit = SOUL.
When you die, your soul dies, because you are a SOUL. Now what about the spirit?
you are animated dirt. If God does not animate you with a spirit you return to being dirt. Job 27:3
All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils;
Ecclesiastes 12:7 King James Version 7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
Notice the dust returns to the earth as it was. Before you became a soul you were dust, and when your soul dies you return to being dust. God gave the spirit, it was not created at birth by the joining of an egg + sperm.
Without the breath of life, without God giving you a spirit, you turn back to dust. Notice the bible doesn't say you are the spirit, but instead says you are the dust. You are not an immortal spirit being having a flesh experience, you are dirt having a life experience.
People think they are the spirit when in truth they are the dust, they are the body. You are your body. Your body is you.
Adam was a man before he received a spirit.
Genesis 2:7
7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Without that soul you are still a man. When Jesus died his soul died [spirit + body = soul], and his body was in that tomb 3 days, and the spirit returned to God the Father. Where does the bible say Jesus is? It says he was in the tomb.
Luke 23:46
46 And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost. And where was the spirit?
Ecclesiastes 12:7
7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
The spirit is with God in heaven. In trinity land the spirit is conscious without a body, in bible land the spirit has no consciousness apart from the body. Keep in mind Solomon wrote this before Jesus died.
And where was Jesus? (Pay attention here, this is a matter of the gospel itself)
1 Corinthians 15:1-4
15 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how [1] that Christ died [2]for our sins according to the scriptures;
4 [3]And that he was buried, and [4]that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
Consider the argument
1. When Christ died, his "spirit" returned to God, its source (Luke 23:46), and his body was entombed (Matt 27:59-60).
2. After his death, Christ was always said to be wherever his body was, not where his spirit went (Matt12:40; John 19:33, 40, 42; Acts 2:39, 13:29; 1 Cor. 15:3-5; cf. John 11:17, 43-44).
3. Therefore, Christ, the person, was constituted by his physical body, and not by his spirit.
4. Consequently, Christ had no existence as a human person in a so-called "disembodied state" between his death and resurrection. The bible identifies Jesus with his body, not his spirit.
Now if you are your spirit (as many teach) and Jesus was preaching to the spirits in prison (as many teach) then is spirit prison in heaven? Is the spirit conscious without a soul? If you are your soul and not your spirit, and Jesus was preaching to the spirits in prison, then was his soul preaching to spirits on earth? And this was without a spirit body (he only got his spirit body after he was resurrected from the dead 1 Cor 15:30-50.) None of this adds up. The only scenario that does add up is that he preached to spirits in spirit prison after he was resurrected and after he received his new spirit body. Jesus was not conscious when he was dead.
Consider also King David. We know that David did not ascend into the heavens (Acts 2:34 ), and this was said by Peter after the resurrection of Jesus, we know that King David spirit is in heaven through Ecclesiastes 12:7, and this was before the resurrection of Jesus, and we know that King David is buried in a grave somewhere in Israel (1 Kings 2:10). The only conclusion we can reach is that King David is not his spirit since his spirit is already in heaven, yet David has still to this day not ascended into heaven but he is his body, and he is still on earth.
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Awesome biblical teaching…learning what the bible is saying in it's literal text. Christians have been taught to spiritualize every thing and belief myths without properly studying the word.