What “Sheol” Means in the Bible
Interpretive wisdom is needed when Scripture speaks of death and the afterlife. Some aspects of the afterlife are clear: death is a result of sin (Rom. 6:23); those who die in Christ are with Him immediately in paradise (Luke 23:43); those who die apart from Christ immediately experience God’s just judgment (Luke 16:22–26). Some of the biblical language used to describe death, however, is more challenging. The word Sheol is one of those challenging terms.
Most Christians learn of this difficulty when comparing Bible translations. For example, Psalm 16:10 speaks of David’s soul not being left in Sheol. The KJV translates: “For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.” Since this is applied to Christ in Acts 2:27 and 31, does the Bible teach that Christ went to hell, the place of eternal punishment? Wasn’t God’s wrath complete at Christ’s death when He cried out, “It is finished” (John 19:30)? Readers are left to wonder.
More recent versions have adjusted the translation of Psalm 16:10. Now, the word hell is replaced by words like “grave” (NIV 1984), “realm of the dead” (NIV 2012), or most commonly, the word “Sheol” itself (see NKJV, ESV, NASB, CSB, NET). But is this correct?
Theologians and translators usually propose three different ways of interpreting the word Sheol in its various occurrences in the Old Testament.
1. Some interpret Sheol literally as hell.
A significant problem with this view is the fact that both the godly and the ungodly go there (Ps. 16:10; 18:5; 30:3; 49:15; 86:13). Furthermore, those crying out to the Lord seek deliverance from Sheol, something not possible for hell itself (as Luke 16:26 indicates). While the parable in Luke 16:26 takes place in hades (v. 23; a word the Greek Septuagint regularly used to translate Sheol), the Greek work hades in the New Testament is a broader term than Old Testament Sheol.
2. Some scholars view Sheol simply as the grave.
This makes sense of the language of descent into Sheol (Job 7:9; 17:16; Ps. 55:15) and other passages where being delivered from Sheol is described as being brought up (Ps. 30:3) or somehow removed from the depths of Sheol (Ps. 49:15; Prov. 15:24). One problem, however, is that Hebrew has other words it usually uses for the grave: Hebrew qever or words for pit (like bor or shahath) usually in poetic parallelism as a synonym for the grave (Isa. 14:19; Ezek. 32:23, 24; note that Ps. 16:10 pairs Sheol with shahath). In spite of some strengths, treating Sheol merely as a word for the grave misses other connotations of the word.
3. Some scholars view Sheol as an abstract way of describing the state of death.
This state of death includes the separation of body and soul, although scholars admit that most often this abstract state is still described concretely as the realm of the dead. This is a step in the right direction. Since Sheol nearly always occurs in biblical poetry where word meanings often pivot back and forth, this combination of abstract and concrete ideas is no surprise. “State of death” or “realm of the dead” is a useful translation for places where “grave” is too limited (Gen. 37:35; 42:38; 1 Sam. 2:6).
Regardless of the passage referring to Sheol, one common feature is an expression of extreme duress. Jewish scholar Shaul Bar helpfully suggests that Sheol is associated with “bad death,” a bitter, premature death from which the godly seek to be delivered. Thus, when the lives of the godly are threatened, crying out for deliverance from Sheol is a profession of faith, rightly viewing sin and death as an intrusion into God’s good creation and viewing God as the God of life who has a plan for His people’s flourishing and ultimate well-being (Ezek. 18:23, 32; 1 Cor. 15).
Sheol passages can get too narrowly tied to debates concerning the doctrine of the intermediate state. While they do relate to this doctrine, we are best served when we also consider how Christ is the victor over death, the One who was delivered from Sheol, to whom Christians are united in death, resurrection, and ultimately glorification (Rom. 6:5; 8:17).
