Preachers warn from their pulpits – ‘If you don’t accept Christ as your Savior, you are condemned for your sins! When you die, you would be sent alive to hell to be tortured forever in raging fire!’ Eternal torment is the ominous warning. Many claim that a fire-proof Satan rules this underworld and that his demons torture the people cast down there. On what basis is this preached? What is the soul’s punishment for sin according to the Bible? Does the Bible preach eternal torment?

Four words have been translated as hell in the Bible – Sheol, Hades, Gehenna and Tartaroo. The first one is Hebrew (Old Testament) and the rest are Greek (New Testament). Do all of these words mean the same? (At least that's what many of the English bible translations imply). Or do they mean different things?
When we refer to Hebrew and Greek dictionaries and the Bible's own descriptions of these words, we find deeper insight into their meanings.
And we also get clarity on many seemingly contradictory verses in the English bibles.

Translators of the King James Biblerendered the Hebrew word SHEOL (65 occurrences) in English as grave (31 times), pit (3 times) and hell (31 times). They translated SHEOL as grave/pitwhen it was to be the resting place for good people, but rendered the same word as hell when referring to a bad person. Job actually prays to go to SHEOL (Job 14:12). And any Hebrew expert or even Wikipedia would confirm that SHEOL means grave/pit. The Bible actually describes what kind of a place SHEOL is!

Translators of the King James Biblerendered the Hebrew word SHEOL (65 occurrences) in English as grave (31 times), pit (3 times) and hell (31 times). They translated SHEOL as grave/pitwhen it was to be the resting place for good people, but rendered the same word as hell when referring to a bad person. Job actually prays to go to SHEOL (Job 14:12). And any Hebrew expert or even Wikipedia would confirm that SHEOL means grave/pit. The Bible actually describes what kind of a place SHEOL is!

Preachers warn from their pulpits – ‘If you don’t accept Christ as your Savior, you are condemned for your sins! When you die, you would be sent alive to hell to be tortured forever in raging fire!’ Eternal torment is the ominous warning. Many claim that a fire-proof Satan rules this underworld and that his demons torture the people cast down there. On what basis is this preached? What is the soul’s punishment for sin according to the Bible? Does the Bible preach eternal torment?

Four words have been translated as hell in the Bible – Sheol, Hades, Gehenna and Tartaroo. The first one is Hebrew (Old Testament) and the rest are Greek (New Testament). Do all of these words mean the same? (At least that's what many of the English bible translations imply). Or do they mean different things?
When we refer to Hebrew and Greek dictionaries and the Bible's own descriptions of these words, we find deeper insight into their meanings.
And we also get clarity on many seemingly contradictory verses in the English bibles.