SHEOL she’ ōl (שְׁאﯴל, H8619; LXX ἅδης, αίδε͂ς), the Heb. word most frequently used for the place where the dead were believed to dwell. The KJV ambiguously tr. Sheol as “the grave” thirty-one times, as “hell” thirty-one times, and as “the pit” three times. The ASV and the RSV use the transliteration “Sheol.” The term is used more frequently in the Wisdom lit. than elsewhere in the OT. The etymology is in doubt. Some scholars believe it is derived from the verb “to ask,” the idea being either that the dead were frequently consulted (a practice strongly condemned in the OT), or that the experience of death is fig. described as Sheol constantly asking for more inhabitants. Others derive Sheol from the verb “to be hollow”; that is, it is conceived of as a hollow place under the earth.

The Hebrews evidently shared with their pagan neighbors a concept of the region occupied by the dead as a shadowy underworld existence. A number of obvious parallels exist between the Biblical descriptions and references in extrabiblical lit. According to the OT, Sheol was a place of darkness: “Before I go whence I shall not return, to the land of gloom and deep darkness, the land of gloom and chaos, where light is as darkness” (Job 10:21, 22); “For the enemy has pursued me; he has crushed my life to the ground; he has made me sit in darkness like those long dead” (Ps 143:3); a place of silence: “If the Lord had not been my help, my soul would soon have dwelt in the land of silence” (Ps 94:17); “The dead do not praise the Lord, nor do any that go down into silence” (115:17); a place whose inhabitants cannot praise God: “For in death there is no remembrance of thee; in Sheol who can give thee praise?” (6:5); “Dost thou work wonders for the dead? Do the shades rise up to praise thee? Is thy steadfast love declared in the grave, or thy faithfulness in Abaddon? Are thy wonders known in the darkness, or thy saving help in the land of forgetfulness?” (88:10-12); a place whose inhabitants know nothing: “His sons come to honor, and he does not know it; they are brought low, and he perceives it not” (Job 14:21); “The dead know nothing....There is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going” (Eccl 9:5, 10). The inhabitants of Sheol are but a shadow of their former selves; in fact, they are called “shades” (Rephaim).

Sheol is a place of continued existence rather than annihilation, and it does not lie beyond the reach of God. “If I ascend to heaven, thou art there! If I make my bed in Sheol, thou art there!” (Ps 139:8). “Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon has no covering” (Job 26:6). Thus there springs the hope mentioned several times in the OT that God will rescue His people from Sheol. In the OT, little distinction is made between the lot of the good man and the evil man in Sheol. This distinction developed later, during the intertestamental period.

Some ambiguity exists relative to the location of Sheol. In a large number of instances, Sheol is spoken of as a place “down to” which one goes. It is a question as to how closely the Heb. identified Sheol with the grave itself. In three instances it is used in parallel with Abaddon, which the KJV trs. “destruction,” but which the RSV uses as a place name (Job 26:6; Prov 15:11; 27:20). Sheol is underground: “The ground opens its mouth, and swallows them up, with all that belongs to them, and they go down into Sheol” (Num 16:30); it is located in subterranean waters: “The shades below tremble, the waters and their inhabitants” (Job 26:5); it has gates: “I am consigned to the gates of Sheol for the rest of my years” (Isa 38:10).

An important question regarding Sheol is this: At death, did the OT believers go to such a place of gloom or did they go to be with the Lord immediately? The former view was prevalent in the Early Church, which also held that Christ at His death descended into Sheol (Hades) to bring the OT believers to heaven with Him. The latter view is held by those who believe that the Sheol concept was held by the Israelites in common with their pagan neighbors until God gradually revealed more and more information about the life after death, climaxing His revelation in Christ who brought life and immortality to light. Both views contain considerable difficulties.

Bibliography S. Zandstra, “Sheol and Pit in the Old Testament,” PTR 5 (1907), 631-641; J. D. Davis, “The Future Life in Hebrew Thought During the Pre-Persian Period,” PTR 6 (1908), 246-268; C. F. Burney, Israel’s Hope of Immortality (1909); E. F. Sutcliffe, The Old Testament and the Future Life (1947).