What does the Hebrew word Sheol mean?
The Old Testament word for the abode of the dead is Sheol. It is derived, as most scholars think, from a word meaning hollow. To the Hebrew mind Sheol was simply the state or abode of the dead. It was not the same as the grave, though it was so translated in some of the older versions.
The word sheol is found 65 times, 31 times it is translated "hell"; another 31 times it is translated "grave" and 3 times it is translated "pit". The translators could not cleanly translate sheol into "hell" because for instance Job prayed that God would hide him in sheol until his appointed time (Job 14:13).
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 ...
netherworld | hell |
---|---|
hellfire | inferno |
hades | pandemonium |
nether world | the inferno |
blazes | fire and brimstone |
"Bosom of Abraham" refers to the place of comfort in the biblical Sheol (or Hades in the Greek Septuagint version of the Hebrew scriptures from around 200 BC, and therefore so described in the New Testament) where the righteous dead abided prior to Jesus' resurrection.
If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.
A third concept of Heaven, also called shamayi h'shamayim (שׁמי השׁמים or "Heaven of Heavens"), is mentioned in such passages as Genesis 28:12, Deuteronomy 10:14 and 1 Kings 8:27 as a distinctly spiritual realm containing (or being traveled by) angels and God.
The “heart of the earth” like “the heart of the sea” (Jonah 2:4 LXX) refers to Sheol. When Jonah says that “I went down to the earth” (Jonah 2:7 LXX), he is again referring to Sheol (pp. 19–20).
word Hades is used for Sheol, denoting a dark region of the dead. Tartarus, originally denoting an abyss far below Hades and the place of punishment in the lower world, later lost its distinctness and became almost a synonym for Hades.
Shamayim (Hebrew: שָׁמַיִם šāmayīm, ' heavens') is the dwelling place of God and other heavenly beings according to the Bible. It is one of three components of the biblical cosmology.
What happened to Sheol in the Bible?
Sheol (/ˈʃiː. oʊl, -əl/ SHEE-ohl, -uhl; Hebrew: שְׁאוֹל Šəʾōl, Tiberian: Šŏʾōl) in the Hebrew Bible is a place of still darkness which lies after death. Although not well defined in the Tanakh, Sheol in this view was a subterranean underworld where the souls of the dead went after the body died.
After all, they disobeyed God's command to not eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge. God is the One who decides who does or does not enter heaven. There's no place in the Bible that says they were saved. But there is no place in the Bible that indicates the couple was lost, either.

The Bible actually speaks of two different places called hell. One is temporary, and is currently occupied – but only by humans. The other is eternal and currently vacant. One day the occupants of the temporary hell will be moving to the eternal one, where they will be joined by the devil and all his demons.
"Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
In religious or mythological cosmology, the seven heavens refer to seven levels or divisions of the Heavens.
The fourth heaven is the world of positive souls. They have a positive system of beliefs. They follow love, peace, and truth. They are not totally enlightened in that they still have strong egos.
Paul wrote that he was “caught up to the third heaven” (2 Corinthians 12:2)—the celestial kingdom. In 1836 the Prophet Joseph Smith also had a vision of the celestial kingdom.
Roman Catholic Christians who believe in purgatory interpret passages such as 2 Maccabees 12:41–46, 2 Timothy 1:18, Matthew 12:32, Luke 23:43, 1 Corinthians 3:11–3:15 and Hebrews 12:29 as support for prayer for purgatorial souls who are believed to be within an active interim state for the dead undergoing purifying ...
- Judaism.
- Christianity.
- Islam.
When the Hebrew scriptures were translated into Greek in ancient Alexandria around 200 BCE, the word "Hades" (the Greek underworld) was substituted for Sheol, owing to its similarities to the Underworld of Greek mythology.
What is the meaning of שאול?
Passive participle of שָׁאַל (sha'ál, “to ask, to borrow”). Proper noun follows from Adjective.
Thanato- comes from the Greek thánatos, meaning “death.” In Greek mythology, Thanatos was the personification of death. Similar in meaning and use to thanato- is the more common combining form necro-, from the Greek nekrós, “dead person, corpse.”
Etymology. The definitive origin of the term "Hebrew" remains uncertain. The biblical term Ivri (עברי; Hebrew pronunciation: [ʕivˈri]), meaning "to traverse" or "to pass over", is usually rendered as Hebrew in English, from the ancient Greek Ἑβραῖος and the Latin Hebraeus.
Derived from the Hebrew 'arī'ēl (lion of God). In the Old Testament, the name is used as a symbolic name for Jerusalem.
Origin:Hebrew. Meaning:helped by God.