Open almost any English Bible, and you will find the same word translated in at least three different ways.
In some passages, it becomes “hell.”
In others, “grave.”
In others, “pit.”
The Hebrew word underneath all three of those translations is Sheol.
The confusion is not the translator’s fault.
It reflects a genuine complexity in how the Old Testament uses the term.
Sheol does not map cleanly onto any single English word, and forcing it into one distorts the picture the biblical writers were describing.
This post maps the concept as the Bible presents it: what the word means, how it is used, what it was thought to be, and how the New Testament transforms the picture.
The Word Itself: Hebrew Roots and Basic Meaning
The Hebrew word Sheol appears 66 times in the Old Testament.
Bible Study Tools notes that its etymology is uncertain. However, two derivations have been proposed: from sha’al, meaning “to ask,” suggesting an insatiable place, or from a root meaning “to be hollow.”
The Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures, consistently renders Sheol as Hades, the Greek term for the underworld.
That translation choice tells us something important: ancient readers understood Sheol to be the realm of the dead, not merely a physical burial site.
The American Standard Revision, unlike earlier English translations, retained “Sheol” throughout rather than substituting “grave” or “hell,” recognizing that neither English word captures the full range of meaning.
Note this: No single English word translates Sheol accurately in every context. “Realm of the dead” comes closest as a baseline definition, but the biblical writers used it in at least five distinct ways.
Five Ways the Old Testament Uses Sheol
Ligonier Ministries notes that Sheol functions differently depending on the context in which it appears.
As the Realm of All the Dead
In its broadest and most common use, Sheol is simply where the dead go.
Both the righteous and the wicked descend to it.
When Jacob in Genesis 37:35 says he will “go down to Sheol” mourning for Joseph, there is no implication of punishment.
He is describing death as the destination of every person, good or bad.
As a Description of the Grave
In more concrete contexts, Sheol refers to the physical fact of burial and bodily decomposition.
This is why some translators chose “grave,” and why that choice is not entirely wrong, only incomplete.
As the Place of Punishment for the Wicked
In some passages, Sheol describes specifically the destination of those under God’s judgment.
Numbers 16:30 records that Korah and his rebels were swallowed by the earth and went down “to Sheol” as a direct act of divine punishment.
The judgment context there is explicit.
As Symbolic Language
The Old Testament also uses Sheol metaphorically to describe extreme distress, desperate danger, or the threat of untimely death.
Job 14:13 records his anguished wish to be hidden in Sheol until God’s wrath passed.
He is using Sheol as a figure for the depths of suffering, not making a straightforward doctrinal statement about the afterlife.
As the Place the Righteous Are Delivered From
Perhaps the most theologically rich use of Sheol is in passages where God rescues his people from it.
Psalm 49:15 says:
“But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me.” (Psalm 49:15, ESV)
Here, Sheol is not the final destination of the righteous but a danger they are pulled back from by God’s hand.
Understand this: Context determines which meaning of Sheol is active in any given passage. Reading a punishment text back onto a grief text, or vice versa, misrepresents both.
What Sheol Looked Like in Biblical Imagination
The Old Testament paints Sheol with consistent visual and sensory details.
Its Location
Sheol is consistently described as below.
The dead descend to it.
Britannica notes that this subterranean placement is a feature Sheol shares with other ancient Near Eastern underworld concepts, including the Babylonian Arallû and the Greek Hades.
The physicality of “beneath the earth” does not require a literal interpretation but does communicate distance from the living and from God’s presence on the surface.
Its Character
Christianity.com describes Sheol as devoid of love, hate, envy, work, thought, knowledge, and wisdom.
Psalm 115:17 says the dead do not praise the Lord, nor do those who go down into silence.
Job 10:21–22 describes it as “a land of gloom and deep darkness, the land of gloom and chaos.”
Isaiah 14:9–10 personifies Sheol as stirring to meet the arriving dead, a place where even the once-mighty become weak.
Its Gates
The image of Sheol having gates appears in passages like Isaiah 38:10.
Gates in the ancient Near East controlled access.
They could be opened or shut.
The image of Sheol’s gates implies that entry is controlled, that the dead do not simply drift in and out at will.
This imagery carries directly into the New Testament, where Jesus declares in Matthew 16:18 that the gates of Hades will not prevail against his church.
The visual language describing Sheol was not meant to produce a floor plan of the underworld. It was meant to communicate something true about death: it is real, it is dark, it is below, and it is where the living do not go back.
God’s Sovereignty Over Sheol
A defining and often overlooked feature of Sheol in the Old Testament is that God rules it.
Sheol is not a domain independent of God.
Psalm 139:8 states:
“If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.” (Psalm 139:8, ESV)
Amos 9:2 says: “If they dig into Sheol, from there shall my hand take them.”
Deuteronomy 32:22 describes God’s fire burning “to the depths of Sheol.”
Desiring God notes that the Old Testament presents Sheol as dark and gloomy, but never outside God’s jurisdiction.
God does not abandon his people even in death.
He is King even below the earth.
The God of the living is not rendered powerless by death. Every passage in the Old Testament that describes Sheol also, implicitly or explicitly, places it under the authority of the One who created life.
Sheol in the Psalms: Crying Out From the Edge
The Psalms make more use of Sheol than any other book outside of Proverbs and Isaiah.
David writes in Psalm 18:5 of the “cords of Sheol” entangling him.
Psalm 30:3 celebrates: “O Lord, you have brought up my soul from Sheol; you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit.”
Psalm 16:10 makes a statement that the New Testament applies to Christ:
“For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.” (Psalm 16:10, ESV)
Acts 2:27 and 2:31 quote that psalm as fulfilled in Jesus’s resurrection.
The Psalms treat Sheol not as a theological abstraction but as a lived threat from which God rescues his people.
The psalmists who cry out from the edge of Sheol are modeling something: calling death what it is, without flinching, and trusting God to be greater than it.
How the New Testament Transforms the Picture
By the time of Jesus, Jewish thought about the afterlife had developed considerably.
Bible Study Tools notes that the New Testament uses the Greek word Hades, where the Old Testament used Sheol, since the Septuagint had established that equivalence centuries earlier.
But the picture is no longer the same.
Jesus speaks of a great chasm in Luke 16:26 separating the righteous from the unrighteous in the realm of the dead.
Revelation 20:13–14 describes death and Hades giving up their dead at the final judgment, after which they are thrown into the lake of fire.
Bible Study Tools notes that by the New Testament era, the righteous dead no longer remain in a shadowy realm: believers who die go immediately to be with Christ (Philippians 1:23; 2 Corinthians 5:8).
The resurrection of Jesus changed the landscape permanently.
Psalm 16:10’s promise that God would not abandon his holy one to Sheol was fulfilled when Jesus walked out of the tomb.
The Old Testament’s Sheol is not the New Testament’s final picture. It is the frame into which Jesus stepped and out of which he emerged, taking the keys of death and Hades with him.
A Prayer Before the God Who Governs Death
Lord, I have walked past death my whole life without looking directly at it.
The Old Testament does not let me look away. It names Sheol and describes it and plants it in the middle of the Psalms, not to frighten me, but to show me what You are greater than.
You are there in Sheol. You hold its keys. You ransom souls from it. You did not leave Your Holy One in it.
Let me live, and let me grieve, and let me face death, all with the confidence of someone who knows that the God of Sheol is also the God of resurrection.
In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Frequently Asked Questions About Sheol in the Bible
Is Sheol the same as hell in the Bible?
Not exactly. Bible Study Tools explains that Sheol describes the general realm of the dead, covering both the righteous and wicked. The New Testament’s concept of hell, particularly Gehenna, refers specifically to final punishment. They are related but distinct terms pointing to different stages of the afterlife.
How many times does Sheol appear in the Bible?
Sheol appears 66 times in the Old Testament, exclusively in Hebrew. BibleRef notes it occurs most frequently in Job, Psalms, Proverbs, and Isaiah. The New Testament does not use Sheol directly; it uses the Greek Hades, which the Septuagint had established as the equivalent term.
What is the difference between Sheol and Hades?
They refer to the same concept in different languages. When the Hebrew scriptures were translated into Greek, Sheol became Hades. BibleRef notes Hades carries Sheol’s meaning forward but adds detail about the separation between the righteous and wicked, visible in Luke 16:22–26.
Did the righteous go to Sheol in the Old Testament?
Yes, in the broad sense. The Old Testament describes Sheol as the destination of all the dead. Genesis 37:35 shows Jacob expecting to descend there in mourning. Christianity.com notes that clarity about the righteous going immediately to God’s presence came with the New Testament and Christ’s resurrection.
Where is Sheol located according to the Bible?
The Bible consistently places Sheol below the earth. Job 11:8 contrasts it with the heights of heaven, and Isaiah 14:15 describes descent into the pit. Crosswalk notes this imagery communicates that Sheol is distant from the living and from God’s visible presence, not necessarily a literal geographic location.
References
Johnston, Philip S. Shades of Sheol: Death and the Afterlife in the Old Testament. IVP Academic, 2002.
Walton, John H. Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament. Baker Academic, 2006.
What Is the Difference Between Sheol, Hades, Hell, and the Lake of Fire? GotQuestions.org.
What “Sheol” Means in the Bible. Ligonier Ministries.
What Is Sheol? Exploring the Afterlife in the Old Testament. Desiring God.
What Is Sheol in the Bible? Christianity.com.
Sheol: Meaning and Definition. Bible Study Tools.
What Is Sheol? Blue Letter Bible.
Sheol in the Psalms. Crosswalk.
Harris, R. Laird, Gleason Archer, and Bruce Waltke. Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament. Moody Press, 1980.
