Sheol

Biblical text on a synagogue in Holešov, Czech Republic: "HaShem kills and makes alive; He brings down to Sheol and raises up." (1 Samuel 2:6)

In the Hebrew Bible, Sheol (שאול) is the "abode of the dead," the "underworld," "the common grave of mankind," or "pit." It is said to be the destination of both the righteous and the unrighteous dead, as described in Book of Job (3:11-19). "Sheol" is also depicted as a comfortless place beneath the earth, beyond gates, where both slave and king, pious and wicked must go after death to sleep in silence and oblivion in the dust (Isa. 38:18; Ps. 6:5, 88:3-12; Job 7:7-10, 3:11-19; Gen. 2:7, 3:19).

The concept of Sheol seems to have originated from the ancient Sumerian view that after one dies, no matter how benevolent or malevolent he or she was in life, one is destined to eat dirt to survive in the afterlife. Sheol is sometimes compared to Hades, the gloomy, twilight afterlife of Greek mythology. In fact, Jews used the word "Hades" for "Sheol" when they translated their scriptures into Greek (see Septuagint). The New Testament (written in Greek) also uses "Hades" to mean the abode of the dead. Western Christians, who do not share a concept of "Hades" with the Eastern Orthodox, have traditionally translated "Sheol" (and "Hades") as "Hell." Unlike hell, however, Sheol is not associated with Satan.

By the first century, Jews had come to believe that those in Sheol awaited the resurrection of the body either in comfort or in torment. This belief is reflected in the later Jewish concept of a fiery Gehenna, which contrasts with Sheol.

Etymology

No agreement exists on the root of the word "Sheol" although various etymologies have been proposed. Three possible candidates for its linguistic origin are: first, the word may be derived from the Hebrew root SHA'AL, meaning "to ask, to interrogate, to question." Second, it may have emerged as an Assyrian-Babylonian loan-word, "SHU'ALU," meaning "the gathering place for the dead." Finally, it could have evolved from Assyrian "SHILU," meaning "a chamber." In these cases, it is likely that the concept of Sheol was influenced by the neighboring beliefs of the Assyrians and Babylonians, who had similar ideas of an underworld.

Origins and Development

The ancient Hebrews were not preoccupied with life after death in deliberate contrast to their Egyptian neighbors, whose own quest for immortality resulted in their elaborate Pyramid construction projects. Instead, the ancient Hebrews' view of the afterlife was a rather bleak place, similar to the descriptions of the afterlife held by the Assyrians. Indeed, the Jewish Encyclopedia states:

[I]t is certain that most of the ideas covered by the Hebrew "Sheol" are expressed also in the Assyro-Babylonian descriptions of the state of the dead, found in the myths concerning Ishtar's descent into Hades, concerning Nergal and Ereshkigal (see Jensen in Schrader, "K. B." vi., part 1, pp. 74-79) and in the Gilgamesh epic (tablets ii. and xii.; comp. also Craig, "Religious Texts," i. 79; King, Magic," No. 53).

Biblical passages describe Sheol as a place of "nothingness," "a pit" (Isa. 38:18, Ps. 6:5 and Job 7:7-10) in contrast to the perpetual fires of Gehenna (hell) that developed in later Judaism. James Tabor explains the early Jewish views of the afterlife as follows:

The ancient Hebrews had no idea of an immortal soul living a full and vital life beyond death, nor of any resurrection or return from death. Human beings, like the beasts of the field, are made of "dust of the earth," and at death they return to that dust (Gen. 2:7; 3:19). The Hebrew word nephesh, traditionally translated "living soul" but more properly understood as "living creature," is the same word used for all breathing creatures and refers to nothing immortal...All the dead go down to Sheol, and there they lie in sleep together–whether good or evil, rich or poor, slave or free (Job 3:11-19). It is described as a region "dark and deep," "the Pit," and "the land of forgetfulness," cut off from both God and human life above (Ps. 6:5; 88:3-12). Though in some texts Yahweh's power can reach down to Sheol (Ps. 139:8), the dominant idea is that the dead are abandoned forever. This idea of Sheol is negative in contrast to the world of life and light above, but there is no idea of judgment or of reward and punishment. If one faces extreme circumstances of suffering in the realm of the living above, as did Job, it can even be seen as a welcome relief from pain–see the third chapter of Job. But basically it is a kind of "nothingness," an existence that is barely existence at all, in which a "shadow" or "shade" of the former self survives (Ps. 88:10).

Puck cartoon of 1885 parodying the changing interpretation of Sheol in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament): a number of historical sinners and atheists are seen enjoying the relatively pleasant atmosphere of "Sheol" after suffering the flames of the traditional Hell; at left is a dejected Satan sitting beneath a sign that states "This Business is Removed to Sheol, Opposite."

Even within early Jewish thought, the understanding of Sheol was often inconsistent. This would partly manifest in the ideological rift between the Sadducees and Pharisees, who disagreed on whether relevance should focus more on the world of the living or on the afterlife. The lack of a clear belief structure surrounding Sheol provides leeway for interpretational pluralism—namely, one that imagines Sheol as a concrete state of the afterlife or one that envisions Sheol as a metaphor for death as a whole. To the latter's end, certain editions of the Bible translate the term Sheol as generic terms such as "grave" or "pit" (e.g., the Christian KJV and NIV and Jewish JPS Tanakh), while others (e.g., the Christian NAB and NASB and Jewish Koren Jerusalem Bible) preserve it as a proper noun. Distinguishing Sheol between a realm and a metaphor is the crux of several unanswered questions surrounding its nature.

Perhaps owing to the evolution of its interpretation, some aspects of Sheol as described in the Hebrew Bible appear contradictory. Those in Sheol remember nothing, not even Yahweh, yet elsewhere its inhabitants possess an otherwise impossible perception of earthly events, even those which occur after their demise. Pleas to Yahweh cannot escape Sheol, and yet, Yahweh remains its unequivocal master. Those who descend into Sheol cannot escape it, yet Yahweh raises souls from it. Furthermore, despite the evidently abstract nature of Sheol, there is some physicality to it: it was clearly understood to be subterranean, which is further supported by its association with the term bōr (בור, "pit"), found in Isaiah 14:15 and 24:22 and Ezekiel 26:20. It is a "land" (eretz), contains "gates," is apparently compartmentalized, and there are numerous mentions of its "deepest depths" and "farthest corners." The idea that both the righteous and unrighteous eventually descend to Sheol appears to be an unspoken assumption in the Hebrew Bible; thus, Jacob and David have no reservation in acknowledging their eventual residency, even as the later prophets spoke of Sheol lying in wait for the wicked.

The origins of the concept of Sheol are debated. The general characteristics of an afterlife such as Sheol were not unique to the ancient Israelites; the Babylonians had a similar underworld called Aralu, and the Greeks had one known as Hades. As such, it is assumed that the early Israelites believed that the grave of family, or tribe, all united into one, collectively unified "grave," and that this is what the Biblical Hebrew term Sheol refers to: the common grave of humans. Therefore, the family tomb is the central concept in understanding biblical views of the afterlife. It is "not mere sentimental respect for the physical remains that is...the motivation for the practice, but rather an assumed connection between proper sepulture and the condition of happiness of the deceased in the afterlife."

Wojciech Kosior has argued that "Sheol" in the Hebrew Bible refers to an underworld deity. Some additional support for this hypothesis comes from the ancient Near Eastern literary materials. It has been proposed that Sheol is the Hebrew derivative of Shuwala (Akkadian: 𒋗𒉿𒆷 šu-wa-la), an underworld goddess of Hurrian origin, attested in Hattusa in Anatolia, Emar and Ugarit in Syria, and Ur in Mesopotamia, often alongside other underworld deities such as Allani or Ugur. According to Assyriologist Lluis Feliu, a connection between Sheol and Shuwala is "possible, but not certain." Some scholars argue that Sheol understood anthropomorphically fits the semantic complex of the other ancient Near Eastern death deities such as Nergal, Ereshkigal or Mot.

The Second Temple Period wrought several radical theological changes within the Israelite population and marked the transition from Israelite religion to modern Judaism. The idea of Sheol underwent extensive modification and became widely diversified, with a newfound plethora of interpretations. With the codification of Rabbinical Judaism and the Talmud, Jewish theology concerning the afterlife had largely abandoned the concept of a single destination for all humankind after death. It adopted the more recognizable model, which espoused a place of reward for the righteous and punishment for the wicked called Gehinnom. Subsequently, Sheol and the related terms Abaddon, Bor, Shakhat, and others were reduced to synonyms for this realm of punishment.

Sheol in the Bible

Numerous Biblical passages discuss the nature and characteristics of Sheol. It is shown to be literally under the ground when the ground opens up under the household of Korah and the people go down living into Sheol (Num. 16:31-33).

Jacob, not comforted at the reported death of Joseph, exclaims: "I shall go down to my son a mourner unto Sheol" (Gen. 37:35).

According to Biblical accounts, Sheol is never satiated (Prov. 30:20) and she "makes wide her throat" (Isa. 5:14). "The king of Babylon shall be "brought down to Sheol, to the depths of the Pit." (Isa. 14:15)

However, the Bible also states that those in Sheol are not beyond redemption for Yahweh's power can still save them (Ps. 139:8). Such sentiments are expressed in the following passages:

"The breakers of death surged round about me; the menacing floods terrified me. The cords of Sheol tightened; the snares of death lay in wait for me. In my distress I called out: Lord! I cried out to my God. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry to him reached his ears." (Ps. 18:5-7)

"Your love for me is great; you have rescued me from the depths of Sheol." (Ps. 86:13)

"...Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, And You heard my voice." (Jon. 2:2)

Sheol and Gehenna

The New Testament draws a distinction between Sheol and Gehenna. Stephen L. Harris, in his Understanding the Bible, writes:

The concept of eternal punishment does not occur in the Hebrew Bible, which uses the term Sheol to designate a bleak subterranean region where the dead, good and bad alike, subsist only as impotent shadows. When Hellenistic Jewish scribes rendered the Bible into Greek, they used the word Hades to translate Sheol, bringing a whole new mythological association to the idea of posthumous existence. In ancient Greek myth, Hades, named after the gloomy deity who ruled over it, was originally similar to the Hebrew Sheol, a dark underground realm in which all the dead, regardless of individual merit, were indiscriminately housed.

However, following the period of the Babylonian Exile (sixth century B.C.E.), the Jews began to embrace a more punitive view of hell, which was known as Gehenna. This word derived from Gei Hinnom (the valley of Hinnom described in Josh. 15:8, 18:16; 2 Kings 23:10; Jer. 7:31; Neh. 11:30), a place where children were sacrificed to the Canaanite god Moloch, and where fires were kept burning to consume the corpses and rotting garbage.

Thus, the notion of the afterlife and the concept of hell evolved and changed throughout the Hebrew Bible.

Today, the English word hell comes from Germanic mythology, now used in the Judeo-Christian sense to translate the Hebrew word Gehenna.

Book of Enoch

The Book of Enoch records Enoch's vision of the cosmos. The author describes Sheol as divided into four sections: in the fist section, the faithful saints blissfully await judgment day, in the second section, the moderately-good await their reward, in the third section, the wicked are punished and await their judgment at the resurrection (see Gehenna), and in the last section, the wicked who do not even warrant resurrection are tormented.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Balfour, Walter. Inquiry Into the Scriptural Import of the Words Sheol, Hades, Tartarus and Gehenna: All Translated Hell. Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishing, 2003. ISBN 978-0766159464
• Feliu, Lluís. The God Dagan in Bronze Age Syria. Brill, 2003. ISBN 9004131582
• Gowan, Donald E. (ed.). The Westminster Theological Wordbook of the Bible. Westminster John Knox Press, 2003. ISBN 9780664223946
• Harris, Stephen L. Understanding the Bible, 6th ed. McGraw-Hill, 2002. ISBN 0767429168
• Johnston, Philip S. Shades of Sheol: Death and Afterlife in the Old Testament. Apollos, 2002. ISBN 978-0830826872
• Toorn, Karen van der, Bob Becking, and Pieter W. van der Horst (eds.). Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible. Brill, 2025. ISBN 978-9004111196
• Turner, Alice K. The History of Hell. Harvest Books, 1995. ISBN 978-0156001373

External links

All links retrieved November 14, 2025.

• Sheol Jewish Encyclopedia
• Sheol and the Hebrew Word (and Locations) for Heaven and Hell Fellowship of Israel Related Ministries (FIRM)
• Sheol Bible Odyssey
• Sheol: the GRAVE? Gehenna? Hades? HELL? Hebrew Word Lessons
• What Is Sheol? Desiring God

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