Sheol

Sheol is a Hebrew word that refers to the place where dead souls go to experience eternal darkness. While most English translations of the Bible translate the Hebrew word as Sheol, the King James Bible translates it as Hell.

Sheol to the Jewish Mind
The concept of Sheol originated in Mesopotamian mythology. Some of the Mesopotamians believed that the soul went to a sort of graveyard where it experienced eternal darkness and nothing happened. The soul perceived nothing. It was viewed a dark fate for all people. In explaining the Word of God, it is the fate of death that comes upon all man.

Hades
In the Septuagint, Sheol is translated as the Greek word Hades. This means that in the New Testament, the Greek word Hades is used when the people talked about Sheol (as the conversations were in Aramaic, a language close to Hebrew). While most English translations translate Hades into Hade, the King James Bible translates it into Hell. If you are reading the New Testament in King James, you need to discern if the word for Hell in a particular instance is Gehenna or Hades.

Sheol and the Gospel
Sheol is used to show that those who do not believe in God for eternal life are doomed to death. Examples include:


 * Proverbs 7:27 NASB - "Her house is the way down to Sheol, Descending to the chambers of death." The woman in this verse is a type and shadow of a belief in life by our own works. A belief in life by your own works leads the the fate of permanent death.


 * Job 33:18 NASB - "He keeps his soul from the pit, And his life from passing over into Sheol." It talks about how God raises us from the dead.


 * Psalms 16:9-10 NASB - "My flesh will also dwell securely. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol. Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay." Quoted in Acts as the flesh of Jesus being put to rest on the cross because He believed that God would raise him from the grave. As Jesus is our representative, the same thing applies to us. Our flesh rests in security if we believe in God's promise to raise us from the grave.


 * Song of Songs 8:6 NASB - "For love is as strong as death, Jealousy is as fierce as Sheol." It describes the anguish God feels over losing us to death.


 * Matthew 16:18 NASB - "Upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it." The church, the collective who believe in Jesus, will be built on the revelation that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. The church will not be overpowered by the fate of death because it shall be resurrected and receive immortality.


 * Revelation 20:14 NASB - "Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire." The fire of God's glory will consume the Earth and completely destroy death.