The following information has been taken from the publication:

"Insight on the Scriptures"

<HELL>. A word used in the King James Version (as well as in the Catholic Douay Version and most older translations) to translate the Hebrew she'ohl and the Greek hai'des. In the King James Version the word "hell" is rendered from she'ohl' 31 times and from hai'des 10 times. This version is not consistent, however, since she'ohl' is also translated 31 times "grave and 3 times "pit." In the Douay Version she'ohl' is rendered "hell" 64 times, "pit" once, and "death" once.

In 1885, with the publication of the complete English Revised Version, the original word she'ohl' was in many places transliterated into the English text of the Hebrew Scriptures, though, in most occurrences, "grave" and "pit" were used, and "hell" is found some 14 times. This was a point of which the American committee disagreed with the British revisers, and so when producing the American Standard Version (1901) they transliterate she'ohl' in all 65 of its appearances. Both versions transliterated hai'des in the Christian Greek Scriptures in all ten of its occurrences, though the Greek word Ge'en.na (English, "Gehenna") is rendered "hell" throughout, as

is true of many other modern translations.

Concerning this use of "hell" to translate these original words from the Hebrew and Greek, Vine's Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (1981, Vol. 2, p. 187) says: "HADES . . . It corresponds to 'Sheol' in the O.T. [Old Testament]. In the A.V. of the O.T. [Old Testament] and N.T. [New Testament], it has been unhappily rendered 'Hell.'"

Collier's Encyclopedia (1986, Vol. 12, p. 28) says concerning "Hell":

"First it stands for the Hebrew Sheol of the Old Testament and the Greek Hades of the Septuagint and New Testament. Since Sheol in Old Testament imes referred simply to the abode of the dead and suggested no moral distinctions, the word 'hell,' as understood today, is not a happy translation."

It is, in fact, because of the way that the word "hell" is understood today that it is such an unsatisfactory translation of these original Bible words. Webster's Third New International Dictionary, unabridged, under "Hell" says: "fr[om] . . .

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helan to conceal." The word "hell" thus originally conveyed no thought of heat or torment but simply of a 'covered over or concealed place.' In the old English dialect the expression "helling potatoes" meant, not to roast them, but simply to place the potatoes in the ground or in a cellar.

The meaning given today to the word "hell" is that portrayed in Dante's Divine Comedy and Milton's Paradise Lost, which meaning is completely foreign to the original definition of the word. The idea of a "hell" of fiery torment, however, dates back long before Dante or Milton. The Grolier Universal Encyclopedia (1971, Vol. 9, p. 205) under "Hell" says: "Hindus and Buddhists regard hell as a place of spiritual cleansing and final restoration. Islamic tradition considers it as a place of everlasting punishment." The idea of suffering after death is found among the pagan religious teachings of ancient peoples in Babylon and Egypt. Babylonian and Assyrian beliefs depicted the "nether world . . . as a place full of

horrors, . . . presided over by gods and demons of great strength and

fierceness." Although ancient Egyptian religious texts do not teach that the burning of any individual victim would go on forever, they do portray the "Other World" as featuring "pits of fire" for "the damned."--The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, by Morris Jastrow, Jr., 1898, p. 581

The Book of the Dead, with introduction by E. Wallis Budge, 1960, pp. 135, 144, 149, 151, 153, 161, 200.

"Hellfire" has been a basic teaching in Christendom for many centuries.

It is understandable why The Encyclopedia Americana (1956, Vol. XIV, p. 81) said: "Much confusion and misunderstanding has been caused through the early translators of the Bible persistently rendering the Hebrew Sheol and the Greek Hades and Gehenna by the word hell. The simple transliteration of these words by the translators of the revised editions of the Bible has not

sufficed to appreciably clear up this confusion and misconception.

Nevertheless, such transliteration and consistent rendering does enable the Bible student to make an accurate comparison of the texts in which these original words appear and, with open mind, thereby to arrive at a correct understanding of their true significance. --See GEHENNA; GRAVE; HADES SHEOL; TARTARUS.

<GEHENNA> (Ge.hen'na) [Gr. form of the Heb. Geh Hin.nom', "Valley of Hinnom"]. This name appears 12 times in the Christian Greek Scriptures, and whereas many translators take the liberty to render it by the word "hell, a number of modern translations transliterate the word from the Greek ge'en.na. --Mt 5:22, Ro, Mo, ED, Nw, BC (Spanish), NC (Spanish), also the footnotes of Da and RS.

The deep, narrow Valley of Hinnom, later known by this Greek name, lay to the S and SW of ancient Jerusalem and is the modern-day Wadi er-Rababi (Ge Ben Hinnom). (Jos 15:8; 18:16; Jer 19:2, 6; see HINNOM, VALLEY OF.) Judean Kings Ahaz and Manasseh engaged in idolatrous worship there, which included the making of human sacrifices by fire to Baal. (2Ch 28:1, 3; 33:1, 6; Jer

7:31, 32; 32:35) Later, to prevent such activities there in the future, faithful King Josiah had the place of idolatrous worship polluted particularly the section called Topheth. --2Ki 23:10.

NO SYMBOL OF EVERLASTING TORMENT. Jesus Christ associated fire with Gehenna (Mt 5:22; 18:9; Mr 9:47, 48), as did the disciple James, the only Biblical writer besides Matthew, Mark, and Luke to use the word. (Jas 3:6)

Some commentators endeavor to link such fiery characteristic of Gehenna with the burning of human sacrifices that was carried on prior to Josiah's reign and, on this basis, hold that Gehenna was used by Jesus as a symbol of everlasting torment. However, since Jehovah God expressed repugnance for such practice, saying that it was "a thing that I had not commanded and that had not come up into my heart" (Jer 7:31; 32:35), it seems most unlikely that God's Son, in discussing divine judgment, would make such idolatrous practice the basis for the symbolic meaning of Gehenna. It may be noted that God prophetically decreed that the Valley of Hinnom would serve as a place for mass disposal of dead bodies rather than for the torture of live victims. (Jer 7:32, 33; 19:2, 6, 7, 10, 11) Thus, at Jeremiah 31:40 the reference to "the low plain of the carcasses and of the

fatty ashes" is generally accepted as designating the Valley of Hinnom, and a gate known as "the Gate of the Ash-heaps" evidently opened out onto the eastern extremity of the valley at its juncture with the ravine of the Kidron. (Ne 3:13, 14) It seems obvious that such "carcasses" and "fatty ashes" are not related to the human sacrifices made there under Ahaz and Manasseh, since any bodies so offered would doubtless be viewed by the idolaters as "sacred" and would not be left lying in the valley.

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Therefore, the Biblical evidence concerning Gehenna generally parallels the traditional view presented by rabbinic and other sources. That view is that the Valley of Hinnom was used as a place for the disposal of waste matter from the city of Jerusalem. (At Mt 5:30 Ph renders ge'en.na as "rubbish heap.") Concerning "Gehinnom," the Jewish commentator David Kimhi (1160-1235?), in his comment on Psalm 27:13, gives the following historical information: "And it is a place in the land adjoining Jerusalem, and it is a loathsome place, and they throw there unclean things and carcasses. Also there was a continual fire there to burn the unclean things and the bones of the carcasses. Hence, the judgment of the wicked ones is called parabolically Gehinnom."

SYMBOLIC OF COMPLETE DESTRUCTION. It is evident that Jesus used Gehenna as representative of utter destruction resulting from adverse judgment by God, hence with no resurrection to life as a soul being possible. (Mt 10:28; Lu 12:4, 5) The scribes and Pharisees as a wicked class were denounced as `subjects for Gehenna.' (Mt 23:13-15, 33) To avoid such destruction, Jesus' followers were to get rid of anything causing spiritual stumbling, the `cutting off of a hand or foot' and the `tearing out of an eye' figuratively representing their deadening of these body members with reference to sin. --Mt 18:9; Mr 9:43-47; Col 3:5; compare Mt 5:27-30.

Jesus also apparently alluded to Isaiah 66:24 in describing Gehenna as place "where their maggot does not die and the fire is not put out." (Mr 9:47, 48) That the symbolic picture here is not one of torture but, rather, of complete destruction is evident from the fact that the Isaiah text dealt, not with persons who were alive, but with "the carcasses of the men that were transgressing" against God. If, as the available evidence indicates, the Valley of Hinnom was a place for the disposal of garbage and carcasses, fire, perhaps increased in intensity by the addition of sulfur (compare Isa 30:33), would be the only suitable means to eliminate such refuse. Where the fire did not reach, worms, or maggots, would breed, consuming anything not destroyed by the fire. On this basis, Jesus' words would mean that the destructive effect of God's adverse judgment would not cease until complete destruction was attained.

FIGURATIVE USE. The disciple James' use of the word "Gehenna" shows that an unruly tongue is itself a world of unrighteousness and that one's whole round of living can be affected by fiery words that defile the speaker's body. The tongue of such a one, "full of death-dealing poison" and so giving evidence of a bad heart condition, can cause the user to be sentenced by God to go to the symbolic Gehenna. --Jas 3:6, 8; compare Mt 12:37; Ps 5:9; 140:3; Ro 3:13.

The Biblical use of Gehenna as a symbol corresponds to that of "the lake of fire" in the book of Revelation. --Re 20:14, 15; see LAKE OF FIRE.

<GRAVE>. A place of interment. Though today the term "grave" is

generally understood to apply to an excavation in the earth for use as a place of burial, a common method of burial among the Hebrews and other Oriental peoples was by use of a natural cave or a rock-cut tomb, or vault. The Hebrew word qe'ver is the common word used to designate a burial place, a grave, or a graveyard. (Ge 23:7-9; Jer 8:1; 26:23) The related word qevu.rah' similarly may refer to an earthen grave or to a tomb excavated in rock. --Ge 35:20; 1Sa 10:2.

In Greek the common word for grave is ta'phos (Mt 28:1), and the verb form (tha'pto) means "bury." (Mt 8:21, 22) The word mne'ma (Lu 23:53) refers to a tomb and the word mne.mei'on (Lu 23:55) refers to a memorial tomb.

Since these Hebrew and Greek words refer to an individual burial place or grave site, they are often used in the plural as referring to many such graves. They are, therefore, distinct from the Hebrew she'ohl' and its Greek equivalent hai'des,

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which refer to the common grave of mankind, or gravedom, and hence are always used in the singular. For this reason many modern translations have not followed the practice of the King James Version, in which she'ohl' and hai'des are alternately rendered by the words "hell," "grave," and "pit, but have instead simply transliterated them into English. --See HADES SHEOL.

Nevertheless, since one's entry into Sheol is represented as taking place through burial in an individual grave or at a burial site, words pertainint to such places of interment are used as parallel though not equivalent terms with Sheol. --Job 17:1, 13-16; 21:13, 32, 33; Ps 88:3- 12.

At Romans 3:13 the apostle Paul quotes Psalm 5:9, likening the throat of wicked and deceitful men to "an opened grave." As an opened grave is to be filled with the dead and with corruption, their throat opens for speech that is deadly and corrupt. --Compare Mt 15:18-20.

It was a custom to whitewash graves so that persons would not

accidentally touch them and become unclean. The tombs near Jerusalem were whitewashed one month before Passover to prevent a person from becoming unclean at this special period of worship by accidentally touching a grave Jesus used this custom as a basis for an illustration of the scribes and Pharisees as appearing righteous outwardly but inside being "full of hypocrisy and lawlessness." --Mt 23:27, 28.

Although the grave is likened to a pit from which man rightly desires to be delivered, Job draws attention to the despair of those suffering persons who, lacking a clear hope or understanding of their Creator's purposes, seek death and "exult because they find a burial place." (Job 3:21, 22)

Such attitude contrasts sharply with that of men who devoted their lives to their Creator's service and confidently embraced the promise of resurrection. --Ps 16:9-11; Ac 24:15; Php 1:21-26; 2Ti 4:6- 8; Heb 11:17-19 see BURIAL, BURIAL PLACES.

<HADES> (Ha'des). This is the common transliteration into English of the corresponding Greek word hai'des. It perhaps means "the unseen place." In all, the word "Hades" occurs ten times in the earliest manuscripts of the Christian Greek Scriptures. --Mt 11:23; 16:18; Lu 10:15; 16:23; Ac 2:27, 31; Re 1:18; 6:8; 20:13, 14.

The King James Version translates hai'des as "hell" in these texts, but the Revised Standard Version renders it "Hades," with the exception of Matthew 16:18, where "powers of death" is used, though the footnote reads "gates of Hades." "Hades" rather than "hell" is used in many modern translations.

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The Greek Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Scriptures (from Genesis to Malachi) uses the word "Hades" 73 times, employing it 60 times to translate the Hebrew word she'ohl', commonly rendered "Sheol." Luke, the divinely inspired writer of Acts, definitely showed Hades to be the Greek equivalent of Sheol when he translated Peter's quotation from Psalm 16:10 (Ac 2:27) Inversely, nine modern Hebrew translations of the Christian Greek Scriptures use the word "Sheol" to translate Hades at Revelation 20:13, 14 and the Syriac translation uses the related word Shiul.

In all but two cases in which the word Hades is used in the Christian Greek Scriptures it is related to death, either in the verse itself or in the immediate context; the two other instances are discussed in the following paragraph.

Hades does not refer to a single grave (Gr., ta'phos) or to a single tomb (Gr., mne'ma), or to a single memorial tomb (Gr. mne.mei'on), but to the common grave of mankind, where the dead and buried ones are unseen. It thus signifies the same as the corresponding word "Sheol," and an examination of its use in all its ten occurrences bears ou this fact. --See GRAVE; SHEOL.

In its first occurrence, at Matthew 11:23, Jesus Christ, in chiding

Capernaum for its disbelief, uses Hades to represent the depth of

debasement to which Capernaum would come down, in contrast with the height of heaven to which she assumed to exalt herself. A corresponding text is found at Luke 10:15. Note the similar way in which Sheol is used at Job 11:7, 8.

JESUS AND CONGREGATION DELIVERED. Concerning the Christian congregation, Jesus said, at Matthew 16:18, that "the gates of Hades ["powers of death, 115] will not overpower it." Similarly, King Hezekiah, when on the verge of death, said: "In the midst of my days I will go into the gates of Sheol. (Isa 38:10) It, therefore, becomes apparent that Jesus' promise of victory over Hades means that its "gates" will open to release the dead by means of a resurrection, even as was the case with Christ Jesus himself.

Since Hades refers to the common grave of mankind, a place rather than a condition, Jesus entered within "the gates of Hades" when buried by Joseph of Arimathea. On Pentecost of 33 C.E., Peter said of Christ: "Neither was he forsaken in Hades nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God resurrected, of which fact we are all witnesses." (Ac 2:25-27, 29-32; Ps 16:10) Whereas "the gates of Hades" (Mt 16:18) were still holding David within their domain in Peter's day (Ac 2:29), they had swung open for Christ Jesus when his Father resurrected him Out of Hades. Thereafter, through the power of the resurrection given him (Joh 5:21- 30), Jesus is the Holder of "the keys of death and of Hades." --Re 1:17, 18.

Manifestly, the Bible Hades is not the imagined place that the ancient non-Christian Greeks described in their mythologies as a "dark, sunless region within the earth," for there was no resurrection from such a mythological underworld.

ILLUSTRATIVE USE. At Revelation 6:8 Hades is figuratively pictured as closely following after the rider of the pale horse, personalized Death, to receive the victims of the death-dealing agencies of war, famine, plagues, and wild beasts.

The sea (which at times serves as a watery grave for some) is mentioned in addition to Hades (the common earthen grave), for the purpose of stressing the inclusiveness of all such dead ones when Revelation 20:13, It says that the sea, death, and Hades are to give up or be emptied of the dead in them. Thereafter, death and Hades (but not the sea) are cast into "the lake of fire," "the second death." They thereby figuratively `die out' of existence, and this signifies the end of Hades (Sheol), the common grave of mankind, as well as of death inherited through Adam.

The remaining text in which Hades is used is found at Luke 16:22-26 in the account of "the rich man" and "Lazarus." The language throughout the account is plainly parabolic and cannot be construed literally in view of all the preceding texts. Note, however, that "the rich man" of the parable is spoken of as being "buried" in Hades, giving further evidence that Hades means the common grave of mankind. --See GEHENNA; TARTARUS.

<LAKE OF FIRE>. This expression occurs only in the book of Revelation and is clearly symbolic. The Bible gives its own explanation and definition of the symbol by stating: "This means the second death, the lake of fire. --Re 20:14; 21:8.

The symbolic quality of the lake of fire is further evident from the context of references to it in the book of Revelation. Death is said to be hurled into this lake of fire. (Re 19:20; 20:14) Death obviously cannot be literally burned. Moreover, the Devil, an invisible spirit creature, is thrown into the lake. Being spirit, he cannot be hurt by literal fire. --Re 20:10; compare Ex 3:2 and Jg 13:20.

Since the lake of fire represents "the second death" and since Revelation 20:14 says that both "death and Hades" are to be cast into it, it is

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evident that the lake cannot represent the death man has inherited from Adam (Ro 5:12), nor does it refer to Hades (Sheol). It must, therefore, be symbolic of another kind of death, one that is without reversal, for the record nowhere speaks of the "lake" as giving up those in it, as do Adamic death and Hades (Sheol). (Re 20:13) Thus, those not found written in "the book of life," unrepentant opposers of God's sovereignty, are hurled into the lake of fire, meaning eternal destruction, or the second death. --Re 20:15.

While the foregoing texts make evident the symbolic quality of the lake of fire, it has been used by some persons to support belief in a literal place of fire and torment. Revelation 20:10 has been appealed to, because it speaks of the Devil, the wild beast, and the false prophet as being "tormented day and night forever and ever" in the lake of fire. However, this cannot refer to actual conscious torment. Those thrown into the lake of fire undergo "the second death." (Re 20:14) In death there is no consciousness and, hence, no feeling of pain or suffering. --Ec 9:5.

In the Scriptures fiery torment is associated with destruction and death. For example, in the Greek Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Scriptures the word for torment (ba'sa.nos) is several times used with reference to punishment by death. (Eze 3:20; 32:24, 30) Similarly, concerning Babylon the Great, the book of Revelation says, "the kings of the earth . . . will weep and beat themselves in grief over her, when they look at the smoke from the burning of her, while they stand at a distance because of their fear of her torment [Gr., ba.sa.ni.smou']. (Re 18:9, 10) As to the meaning of the torment, an angel later explains: "Thus with a swift pitch will Babylon the great city be hurled down, and she will never be found again. (Re 18:21) So, fiery torment here is parallel with destruction, and in the case of Babylon the Great, it is everlasting destruction. --Compare Re 17:16; 18:8, 15-17, 19.

Therefore, those who are `tormented forever' (from Gr., ba.sa.ni'zo) in the lake of fire undergo "second death" from which there is no resurrection. The related Greek word ba.sa.ni.stes' is translated `jailer' in Matthew 18:34. (RS, NW, ED; compare vs 30.) Thus those hurled into the lake of fire will be held under restraint, or "jailed," in death throughout eternity. --See GEHENNA; TORMENT.

<SHEOL> (She'ol). The common grave of mankind, gravedom; not an

individual burial place or grave (Heb., qe'ver, Jg 16:31; qevu.rah', Ge 35:20), nor an individual tomb (Heb., ga.dhish', Job 21:32).

While several derivations for the Hebrew word she'ohl' have been offered apparently it is derived from the Hebrew verb sha.'al' meaning "ask, request." Regarding Sheol, in A Compendious Hebrew Lexicon, Samuel Pike stated that it is "the common receptacle or region of the dead; so called from the insatiability of the grave, which is as it were always asking or craving more." (Cambridge, 1811, p. 148) This would indicate that Sheol is the place (not a condition) that asks for or demands all without distinction, as it receives the dead of mankind within it. --Ge 37:35, ftn Pr 30:15, 16.

The Hebrew word she'ohl' occurs 65 times in the Masoretic text. In the King James Version, it is translated 31 times as "hell," 31 times as "grave," and 3 times as "pit." The Catholic Douay Version rendered the word 63 times as "hell," once as "pit," and once as "death." In addition, at Isaiah 7:11 the Hebrew text originally read she'ohl', and it was rendered as "Hades" in the ancient Greek versions of Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion, and as "hell" in the Douay Version. --See NW ftn.

There is no English word that conveys the precise sense of the Hebrew word she'ohl'. Commenting on the use of the word "hell" in Bible translation, Collier's Encyclopedia (1986, Vol. 12, p. 28) says: "Since Sheol in Old Testament times referred simply to the abode of the dead and suggested no moral distinctions, the word `hell,' as understood today, is not a happy translation." More recent versions transliterate the word into English as "Sheol." --RS, AT, NW.

Regarding Sheol, the Encyclopaedia Britannica (1971, Vol. 11, p. 276) noted: "Sheol was located somewhere `under' the earth. ... The state of the dead was one of neither pain nor pleasure. Neither reward for the righteous nor punishment for the wicked was associated with Sheol. The good and the bad alike, tyrants and saints, kings and orphans, Israelites and gentiles all slept together without awareness of one another."

While the Greek teaching of the immortality of the human soul infiltrated Jewish religious thinking in later centuries, the Bible record shows that Sheol refers to mankind's common grave as a place where there is no consciousness. (Ec 9:4-6, 10) Those in Sheol neither praise God nor

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mention him. (Ps 6:4, 5; Isa 38:17-19) Yet it cannot be said that it simply represents `a condition of being separated from God,' since the Scriptures render such a teaching untenable by showing that Sheol is "in front of" him, and that God is in effect "there." (Pr 15:11; Ps 139:7, 8; Am 9:1, 2) For this reason Job, longing to be relieved of his suffering, prayed that he might go to Sheol and later be remembered by Jehovah and be called out from Sheol. --Job 14:12-15.

Throughout the inspired Scriptures, Sheol is continually associated with death and not life. (1Sa 2:6; 2Sa 22:6; Ps 18:4, 5; Ps 49:7-10, 14, 15; Ps 88:2-6; Ps 89:48; Isa 28:15-18; also compare Ps 116:3, 7-10 with 2Co 4:13 14.) It is spoken of as "the land of darkness" (Job 10:21) and a place of silence. (Ps 115:17) Abel apparently was the first one to go to Sheol, and since then countless millions of human dead have joined him in the dust of the ground.

On the day of Pentecost 33 C.E., the apostle Peter quoted from Psalm 16:10 and applied it to Christ Jesus. Luke, in quoting Peter's words, use the Greek word hai'des, thereby showing that Sheol and Hades refer to the same thing, mankind's common grave. (Ac 2:25-27, 29-32) During the Thousand Year Reign of Jesus Christ, Sheol, or Hades, is emptied and destroyed through a resurrection of all of those in it. --Re 20:13, 14; see GRAVE HADES; HELL.

JONAH AND SHEOL. In the account about Jonah, it is stated that "Jonah prayed to Jehovah his God from the inward parts of the fish and said: `Out of my distress I called out to Jehovah, and he proceeded to answer me. Out of the belly of Sheol I cried for help. You heard my voice.'" (Jon 2:1, 2)

Therefore, Jonah was comparing the inside of the fish to Sheol. He was a good as dead inside the fish, but Jehovah brought up his life from the pit, or Sheol, by preserving him alive and having him disgorged. --Jon 2:6 compare Ps 30:3.

Jesus compared Jonah's being in the belly of the fish with what would happen in his own case, saying: "For just as Jonah was in the belly of the huge fish three days and three nights, so the Son of man will be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights." (Mt 12:40) Although Jesus did not here use the word "Sheol" (Hades), the apostle Peter did use the word "Hades" when referring to Jesus' death and resurrection. --Ac 2:27.

Regarding the word "Sheol," Brynmor F. Price and Eugene A. Nida noted: "The word occurs often in the Psalms and in the book of Job to refer to the place to which all dead people go. It is represented as a dark place, in which there is no activity worthy of the name. There are no moral distinctions there, so `hell' (KJV) is not a suitable translation, since that suggests a contrast with `heaven' as the dwelling-place of the righteous after death. In a sense, `the grave' in a generic sense is a near equivalent, except that Sheol is more a mass grave in which all the dead dwell together. The use of this particular imagery may have been considered suitable here [in Jonah 2:2] in view of Jonah's imprisonment in the interior of the fish." --

A Translators Handbook on the Book of Jonah

1978, p. 37.