Commentary on Words translated
"Hell" in the
King James Version of the Bible
The King James
Version of the Bible has had an overwhelming influence on the
popular conception of the nature of the Afterlife in the
English-speaking world. It has had an even stronger influence on
the mythology of Hell, the notion that it is a place prepared by
God to eternally torment and torture billions upon billions of
human souls. There would, of course, be no problem with this if
the King James translators had scrupulously confined their
efforts to using the
context of the Greek and Hebrew manuscripts as their sole
criteria for translation. Careful examination of the choices
they made in numerous instances reveals, however, that this was
not so.
Hell in the
KJV Old Testament
The Hebrew word rendered as
hell by the KJV translators in the Old Testament is sheol.
When the ancient Hebrew mind heard this word, did it conjure up
a fiery place of torment, where demons endlessly poked
pitchforks into disembodied human souls, with the Devil himself
supervising all the torments and laughing fiendishly? No, there
is absolutely no indication that this was ever the connotation
of the word. In fact, in over 30 instances the KJV translators
chose to render this exact same Hebrew word as "grave," rather than hell. Yet in
others, sometimes for inexplicable reasons, they chose hell
instead.
Consider the samples below. It would seem in these
instances that the translators, themselves only a single
generation removed from the Roman Catholic Church, were
influenced more by a preconceived notion of an ever-burning Hell
than by the simple connotations of the Hebrew word. In fact,
almost all modern translations make a similar choice to that of
the NIV translation below and use the words "grave" or "death"
to translate sheol.
KJV:
Sheol translated as
“Hell”
Each entry
shows the KJV rendition of the verse within quotation marks,
with the word or phrase that includes sheol bolded.
This is followed by the same verse in the NIV, indented. The
bolded words in the NIV show how the same word or phrase was
translated in the NIV.
Deuteronomy
32:22—"For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn in
the lowest hell. and shall
consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the
foundations of the mountains.
For a fire
has been kindled by my wrath,
one that burns to the realm of death below.
It will devour the earth and its harvests
and set afire the foundations of the mountains.
2 Samuel
22:6 —"The cords of hell compassed me about;
the snares of death prevented me;"
The cords
of the grave coiled around me;
the snares of death confronted me.
Job 11:8—"It
[God’s wisdom] is as high as heaven; what canst thou do?
deeper than hell; what canst thou know?"
They are
higher than the heavens—what can you do?
They are deeper than the depths of the grave—what can you
know?
Job 26:6—"Hell
is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering."
Death is
naked
before God;
Destruction lies uncovered.
Psalm
9:17—"The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the
nations that forget God.”
The wicked
return to the grave,
all the nations that forget God.
Psalm
16:10—"Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt
thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption."
... because
you will not abandon me to the grave,
nor will you let your Holy One see decay.
Psalm
18:5—"The cords of hell compassed me about."
The cords
of the grave coiled around me;
the snares of death confronted me.
Psalm
55:15—" Let death seize upon them, and let them go down quick
[old English word meaning “alive”] into hell: for wickedness is
in their dwellings, and among them.”
Let death
take my enemies by surprise;
let them go down alive to the grave,
for evil finds lodging among them.
Psalm
86:13—"Thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell"
…you have
delivered me from the depths of the grave.
Psalm
116:3—"The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of
hell gat hold upon me."
The cords of
death entangled me,
the anguish of the grave came upon me;
Psalm
139:8—"If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there."
…if I make
my bed in the depths, you are there.
Proverbs
5:5—"Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.”
Her feet go
down to death;
her steps lead straight to the grave.
Proverbs
7:27—"Her house is the way to hell, going down to the
chambers of death."
Her house is
a highway to the grave,
leading down to the chambers of death.
Proverbs
9:18—"He knoweth not that the dead are there, and that her
guests are in the depths of hell."
But little
do they know that the dead are there,
that her guests are in the depths of the grave.
Proverbs
15:11—"Hell and destruction are before the Lord."
Death
and Destruction lie open before the LORD…
Proverbs
15:24—" The way of life is above to the wise, that he may
depart from hell beneath.”
The path of
life leads upward for the wise
to keep him from going down to the grave.
Proverbs
23:14—"Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver
his soul from hell"
Punish him
with the rod
and save his soul from death.
Proverbs
27:20—"Hell and destruction are never full: so the eyes
of man are never satisfied."
Death
and Destruction are never satisfied,
and neither are the eyes of man.
Isaiah
5:14—"Therefore hell hath enlarged herself and opened her
mouth without measure."
Therefore
the grave enlarges its appetite
and opens its mouth without limit;
Isaiah
14:9—“Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at
thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief
ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the
kings of the nations.”
The grave
below is all astir
to meet you at your coming;
it rouses the spirits of the departed to greet you—
all those who were leaders in the world;
it makes them rise from their thrones—
all those who were kings over the nations.
Isaiah
14:15—“Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the
sides of the pit.”
But you are
brought down to the grave,
to the depths of the pit.
Isaiah
28:15, 18—"Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with
death, and with hell are we at agreement;
when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not
come unto us, for we have made lies our refuge, and under
falsehood have we hid ourselves: [Therefore, saith the Lord] ...
Your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your
agreement with hell shall not stand."
You boast,
"We have entered into a covenant with death,
with the grave we have made an agreement.
When an overwhelming scourge sweeps by,
it cannot touch us,
for we have made a lie our refuge
and falsehood our hiding place."
[So this is
what the Sovereign LORD says:]…
Your covenant with death will be annulled;
your agreement with the grave will not stand.
Isaiah
57:9—“And thou wentest to the king with ointment, and didst
increase thy perfumes, and didst send thy messengers far off,
and didst debase thyself even unto hell.”
You went to
Molech with olive oil
and increased your perfumes.
You sent your ambassadors far away;
you descended to the grave itself!
Ezekiel
31:17—“They also went down into hell with him unto them
that be slain with the sword; and they that were his arm, that
dwelt under his shadow in the midst of the heathen.”
Those who
lived in its shade, its allies among the nations, had also
gone down to the grave with it, joining those killed by the
sword.
Ezekiel
32:21—" The strong among the mighty shall speak to him out of
the midst of hell with them that help him: they are gone
down, they lie uncircumcised, slain by the sword."
From within
the grave
the mighty leaders will say of Egypt and her allies, 'They have
come down and they lie with the uncircumcised, with those killed
by the sword.'
Ezekiel
32:27—"And they shall not lie with the mighty that are fallen of
the uncircumcised, which are gone down to hell with their
weapons of war: and they have laid their swords under their
heads; but their iniquities shall be upon their bones, though
they were the terror of the mighty in the land of the living."
Do they not
lie with the other uncircumcised warriors who have fallen,
who went down to the grave with their weapons of war, whose
swords were placed under their heads? The punishment for their
sins rested on their bones, though the terror of these warriors
had stalked through the land of the living.
Amos
9:2—"Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand
take them."
Though they
dig down to the depths of the grave,
from there my hand will take them.
Jonah 2:1,
2—"Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord, his God, out of the fish’s
belly, and said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the
Lord and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I,
and thou heardest my voice."
From inside
the fish Jonah prayed to the LORD his God. 2 He said:
"In my distress I called to the LORD,
and he answered me.
From the depths of the grave I called for help,
and you listened to my cry.
Habakkuk
2:5—“Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud
man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as
hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but
gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all
people:}
indeed, wine
betrays him;
he is arrogant and never at rest.
Because he is as greedy as the grave
and like death is never satisfied,
he gathers to himself all the nations
and takes captive all the peoples.
For those who
already accept the notion of an ever-burning Hell of torture,
the modern choices might seem an attempt to "water down" the
doctrine of Hell as taught by most Protestant churches. However,
most of the modern translators themselves accept the common
perspective on Hell! It even shows up in footnotes in the NIV.
So it would appear that their choices are more informed by the
honesty of their scholarship rather than a desire to provide
confirmation of a doctrinal position. And once you have
considered the choices of the KJV translators in the section
below, this may become more obvious.
KJV:
Sheol
translated as “Grave”
Each
entry shows the KJV rendition of the verse within quotation
marks, with the word or phrase that includes sheol
bolded. This is followed by the same verse in the NIV,
indented. The bolded words in the NIV show how the
same word or phrase was translated in the NIV.
In the following
three passages, the KJV translators were obviously
troubled at the notion of the godly patriarch Jacob
believing that he would be going to Hell after
death. So in spite of all of the other places they
had chosen to translate sheol as Hell, they
chose to translate it as "grave" here.
Genesis
37:35—"I [Jacob] will go down into the grave unto my son
[Joseph]."
…in
mourning will I go down to the grave to my son.
Genesis
42:38—“And he [Jacob] said, My son [Benjamin] shall not go down
with you; for his brother is dead, and he is left alone: if
mischief befall him by the way in the which ye go, then shall ye
bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.”
[See also the same expression in 44:29, 31. The translators did
not like to send God’s servant, Jacob, to hell simply because
his sons were evil! ]
But Jacob
said, "My son will not go down there with you; his brother is
dead and he is the only one left. If harm comes to him on the
journey you are taking, you will bring my gray head down to
the grave in sorrow."
Genesis
44:29-31—“And if ye take this [Benjamin] also from me [Jacob],
and mischief befall him, ye shall bring down my gray hairs with
sorrow to the grave. Now therefore when I come to thy
servant my father, and the lad be not with us; seeing that his
life is bound up in the lad's life; It shall come to pass, when
he seeth that the lad is not with us, that he will die: and thy
servants shall bring down the gray hairs of thy servant our
father with sorrow to the grave.”
If you take
this one from me too and harm comes to him, you will bring my
gray head down to the grave in misery. So now, if the boy
is not with us when I go back to your servant my father and if
my father, whose life is closely bound up with the boy's life,
sees that the boy isn't there, he will die. Your servants will
bring the gray head of our father down to the grave in
sorrow.
In the following
passage, the speaker, King David, notes that he
doesn't want his enemy to go to sheol "in
peace." Going to Hell would certainly not be a
"peaceful" destiny, so the KJV translators were
forced to translate it as "grave" in this instance,
in spite of the fact that they usually chose to
translate it as hell in other similar instances.
1 Kings 2:6,
9—"Let not his hoar head go down to the grave in peace
... his hoary head bring thou down to the grave with
blood."
Deal with
him according to your wisdom, but do not let his gray head go
down to the grave in peace. … Bring his gray head down to
the grave in blood."
In the following
passages, the KJV translators were obviously troubled
at the idea of righteous Job wanting to be "hidden
in Hell," if even for a time. So they chose to
translate sheol as grave in this instance, in
spite of the fact that they chose to translate it as
hell in other similar instances.
Job 14:13—"O
that thou wouldst hide me in the grave, [righteous Job
wants to be in Sheol, from whence he would be resurrected] that
thou wouldst keep me secret until thy wrath be past, that thou
wouldst appoint me a set time, and remember me [resurrect me]"
"If only you
would hide me in the grave
and conceal me till your anger has passed!
If only you would set me a time
and then remember me!
Job
17:13—"If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my
bed in the darkness."
If the
only home I hope for is the grave,
if I spread out my bed in darkness ...
Since the KJV
translators chose to render sheol as grave when speaking
about Job himself, they evidently found it intellectually
dishonest to render the same word differently in the same Bible
book, even when the book spoke of evil men going to sheol.
So even in these passages, such as the following, they chose to render it as grave
rather than hell. Yet in other OT books, for no obvious reason,
they slipped back to using hell whenever it seemed to speak of
the unrighteous. Modern translations commonly avoid this
schizophrenic approach to translation, and most often choose to
translate sheol as grave or death.
Job
24:19—“Drought and heat consume the snow waters: so doth the
grave those which have sinned.”
As heat and
drought snatch away the melted snow,
so the grave snatches away those who have sinned.
Although the
KJV translators sometimes used hell for sheol in
translating the Psalms, at times they were forced by
context to use grave. In the following passage, perhaps the idea of a tormented soul
being "silent" in sheol was just too much. For, of
course, one of the typical characteristics of the common
mythology of Hell is the shrieks and moans of those who are
being tortured.
Psalm
31:17—"Let the wicked be ashamed; let them be silent in the
grave."
…let the
wicked be put to shame
and lie silent in the grave.
And in this
passage, the obvious problem is that animals are said to go to
the same destination ... sheol. The mythology of Hell
never includes torture of sheep, or even sheep wandering among
those being tortured!
Psalm
49:14,15—“Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and the upright
shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty
shall consume in the grave from their dwelling. But
God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for he
shall receive me.”
Like sheep
they are destined for the grave,
and death will feed on them.
The upright will rule over them in the morning;
their forms will decay in the grave,
far from their princely mansions.
But God
will redeem my life from the grave;
he will surely take me to himself.
In the following passage, the writer of Ecclesiastes is indiscriminately
noting that anyone reading the book is destined for sheol,
including the righteous. So the KJV writers were forced to
render it grave, to avoid the implication that the common
destination of all was sheol. The reality, however, is that
ancient Hebrew did, indeed, refer to sheol as the destination of
all. Which is why the modern translations all choose to commonly
render it as "the grave" or "death."
Ecclesiastes
9:10—"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might;
for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom,
in the grave, whither thou goest.”
Whatever
your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the
grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor
planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.
Hell in the New Testament
The Greek
word hades
is used by authors of New Testament passages quoting Old
Testament passages that use sheol. This clearly
establishes a correlation
between the meanings of the two words:
Acts 2:27,
"Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell (hades)" is
from Psalms 16:10, "Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell (sheol).”
…because you
will not abandon me to the grave, (NIV for both passages)
1
Corinthians 15:54-55, " So when this corruptible shall have put
on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality,
then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death
is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O
grave (hades), where is thy victory?" is from Isaiah 25:8,
"He will swallow up death in victory," and Hosea 13:14, "O
death, I will be thy plagues; O grave (sheol), I will be
thy destruction."
When the
perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the
mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will
come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."
Where, O death (hades) , is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?" (NIV)
KJV:
Hades translated as "Hell"
Once again,
as in the Old Testament, the KJV translators seem to choose to
use the word hell at times for hades, when it could
just as easily be translated otherwise. And, in fact, most
modern translations choose to do this in many cases. Sometimes
the modern translators even leave the word untranslated.
Matthew
11:23—"And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt
be brought down to hell."
And you,
Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go
down to the depths.
Matthew
16:18—"Upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates
of hell shall not prevail against it."
… on this
rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades
will not overcome it.
One of the most difficult passages
no doubt for the KJV translators was one in which Jesus Himself
was said to have been " in Hades." The modern translators most
often choose to render this "the grave." But there is a Roman
Catholic doctrine that says that Jesus went to Hell to rescue
the Old Testament saints after His death and before His
resurrection. (See the entry on the
Harrowing of Hell in
the English Lexicon for more information on this.) So
they were evidently comfortable with stating that the "soul" of
Jesus went to Hell. (See the article on
Body, Soul, Spirit, and Mind
for an exploration of the implications of this notion.)
Acts 2:31 He
seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his
soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see
corruption.
Seeing what
was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that
he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see
decay.
KJV:
Gehenna translated as "Hell"
There is one
word about which the KJV and the modern translations seem to
agree. Both translate gehenna as hell in every instance in which
it is used in the New Testament, as in the examples below. For
an extensive examination of the meaning and usage of this word,
see New Testament Hell.
Matthew
5:21, 22—"Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time,
Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be amenable
to the judges; but I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with
his brother without a cause shall be amenable to the judges; and
whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of
the high council; but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be
in danger of hell [Gehenna] fire."
You have
heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder,
and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' But I tell
you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be
subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,'
is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!'
will be in danger of the fire of hell.
Matthew
5:29-30—“And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and
cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy
members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be
cast into hell. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off,
and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of
thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should
be cast into hell [Gehenna].”
If your
right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It
is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your
whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes
you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you
to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go
into hell.
Matthew
10:28—“Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to
kill the soul; but rather fear him which is able to destroy
both soul and body in hell [Gehenna].
Do not be
afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.
Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and
body in hell.
It is
impossible to consider all the unusual choices that the
KJV translators made when dealing with passages using
the Hebrew sheol and the Greek hades, as
illustrated above, and not have concerns about the
"objectivity" of their choices. It would appear that
they were influenced at times by their preconceived
notions about the nature of Hell, rather than purely
linguistic considerations.
It would seem that these
scholars,
in spite no doubt of their sincerity,
may have been unable to free themselves
from the influence of 1600 years of Hellish theology--
and from 300 years of the influence
of Dante and his successors in literature and art.
This site contains a collection
of articles, on the topic of Hell and the Afterlife, that may
each be used independently for research purposes. But it also is
designed as a systematic, sequential overview of the whole
topic, which can be read like a book.
For those who would like to take
advantage of this perspective of the content, the articles are
arranged in the
Reading Guide as they would appear as chapters in a book, along
with a few reference chapters at the end such as would appear in
a book Appendix.
Use the
links below to go to the next article, previous article, or
first article
in the Reading Guide sequence.
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PLEASE
NOTE:
No single short article can comprehensively cover
any aspect of the topic of Hell. If you have
questions or concerns regarding the material in this
article, be sure to first read through the site
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author. It may already specifically address the very
points you are wondering about.
Unless otherwise
noted, all biblical references in this and other articles on the
Is It True What They Say About Hell? website are from the
New International Version (NIV).
All of the articles on this
Is it true what they say about Hell? website were written by Pam Dewey, with
the support and sponsorship of Common Ground Christian
Ministries. For more of Pam's inspirational and educational
writings, visit her Oasis
website.
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Dewey and Common Ground Christian Ministries
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