WHAT DOES THE BIBLE
ACTUALLY SAY ABOUT HELL?

"To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.." -- Isaiah 8:20, New King James Version
Unless otherwise stated, all Biblical quotations are from the World English Bible translation.

Job

Job 7:9 - As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away, So he who goes down to Sheol shall come up no more. The King James Version translates *sheol* as "the grave" here, probably because Job is referring to himself. Evidently it would not have been advantageous to have Job appear to be in the traditional idea of hell, so the translators rendered it "the grave" instead.

Some point to this verse as though it is saying that those in sheol will not be raised in the resurrection. If this were so, then righteous Job will not be raised, for Job is speaking of himself, for he is comparing his nights of suffering and days of distress with the condition in sheol. He is saying that once he is sheol, he would be at rest and not come up to this condition of distress anymore. -- Job 7:1-10.

Job 11:7-9 - Can you fathom the mystery of God? Or can you probe the limits of the Almighty? They are high as heaven. What can you do? Deeper than Sheol: what can you know? The measure of it is longer than the earth, And broader than the sea. These are the words Zophar, one of the "comforters" of Job. Yahweh says that he and his two friends did not speak what is right concerning Yahweh. (Job 42:7) Thus we do not put as much weight on what they said as we do what Job and said. Exactly what Zophar believed concerning sheol and the condition of those there is not revealed in his words. He is evidently speaking figuratively of God's wisdom, and using illustrations he felt would convey the magnitude of God's wisdom as compared with man's ability to comprehend such wisdom.

Job 14:13 - Oh that you would hide me in Sheol, That you would keep me secret, until your wrath is past, That you would appoint me a set time, and remember me! Here we find that Job, whom Yahweh said spoke correctly (Job 42:7), speaks of sheol as a hidden and secret condition. The King James translators rendered this as "the grave" here. Job is certainly not praying to be in the traditional fiery hell, nor is his expressions of being hidden or kept secret describe what is generally thought of as being in paradise. Whatever condition he expected to in while in sheol, he did not consider it to be desirable to remain there, for he also prayed that he be remembered after God's wrath should be past. His prayer does reflect the condition spoken of in Ecclesiastes 9:5,10, a condition where one does not know anything, a hidden or secret condition of death. Job was not anxious for a perpetuation of the present conditions of sin and sorrow and trouble and pain; he was quite willing to be hidden in oblivion until the time when the curse, "wrath," shall be lifted from the earth, and the times of refreshing instead shall come. But he does not wish to be blotted out forever. Oh no! having confidence in the divine provision for a future life, through a resurrection, he prays that God in due time, after the curse of this present age has been rolled away, will remember him, and call him out of oblivion into being again, by the restitution powers then to be exercised through the Christ. See John 5:28,29; Acts 3:19-21; Revelation 22:3.

Job 17:13-16 - If I look for Sheol [the grave, KJV] as my house, If I have spread my couch in the darkness, If I have said to corruption, 'You are my father;' To the worm, 'My mother,' and 'my sister;' Where then is my hope? As for my hope, who shall see it? Shall it go down with me to the gates of Sheol ["bars of the pit", KJV], Or descend together into the dust? We find this verse variously rendered in many different translations, many of which would leave the reader with different thoughts. The final expression contains the Hebrew word Nachath (Strong's #5183), which contains the thought of resting; thus the King James Version is probably more correct in stating: "Truly in the dust alone there is rest for all." Young's Literal renders verse 16: "[To] the parts of Sheol ye go down, If together on the dust we may rest." Oblivion -- sheol -- is the house or is the bed, and it is full of darkness -- Job's soul, his being, sleeps, is inanimate, waiting for the morning of the resurrection, while his former body turns to corruption. The servant of God expresses his own hope or confidence, but questions how many can have such a confidence. He has already expressed the hope that his death will be merely a sleep, from which he shall awake in the morning. But although each separately goes down to sheol, to oblivion, whether they have this hope or not, all find rest in the dust. It should be apparent that Job's description here does not fit the thought that the bad will experience torture in sheol, nor that the good will be in paradise in sheol.

Job does tell us that those in sheol are behind figurative bars or gates. (See Matthew 16:18) They are like locked up in the oblivious death condition, and cannot bring themselves back to life. Yet Job knew that God would unlock the gates of sheol and the dead will live again. This agrees with Revelation 1:18, where we read that Jesus has the keys of death and hades. Jesus uses these keys to unlock the bars or gates of hades, thus allowing all -- both good and bad -- to be released from hades. -- John 5:28,29; Acts 24:15; Revelation 20:4,13.

(48)  Job 21:13 - They spend their days in prosperity. In an instant they go down to Sheol. Job is speaking here of the wicked. Although they "grow in power" (Job 21:7) and "their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them", they, like all of us, eventually die and go to sheol. (Ecclesiastes 9:2,3,5,10; Romans 5:15-19; 1 Corinthians 15:21,22) Any thought of these wicked ones going to a section of sheol to be tortured has to be read into what Job said.

(49)  Job 24:19 - Drought and heat consume the snow waters; So does Sheol those who have sinned. Here Job is speaking of the wicked who proper while doing all kinds of injustice to cause others to live in poverty. Job is saying that like all of us, these also come to their end in sheol -- the oblivious realm of death. (Ecclesiastes 9:2,3,5,10; Romans 5:15-19; 6:23; 1 Corinthians 15:21,22) Nothing is said about these being conscious while in sheol.

(50)  Job 26:6 - Sheol is naked before God, And Abaddon has no covering. According to Easton's Dictionary:

Abaddon - destruction, the Hebrew name (equivalent to the Greek Apollyon, i.e., destroyer) of "the angel of the bottomless pit" (Rev. 9:11). It is rendered "destruction" in Job 28:22; 31:12; 26:6; Prov. 15:11; 27:20. In the last three of these passages the Revised Version retains the word "Abaddon." We may regard this word as a personification of the idea of destruction, or as sheol, the realm of the dead.