Gehenna or Gehinnom (Literally Translated As "Valley of Hinnom") Is
Gehenna or Gehinnom (Literally Translated As "Valley of Hinnom") Is
Gehenna or Gehinnom (Literally Translated As "Valley of Hinnom") Is
Sheol (/ˈʃiːoʊl/ SHEE-ohl, /-əl/; Hebrew: שאוֹל Šəʾōl),
ְׁ in the Hebrew Bible,
is a place of darkness to which the dead go. Under some circumstances
they are thought to be able to be contacted by the living. Sheol is also
called Hades.
While the Hebrew Bible describes Sheol as the permanent place of the
dead, in the Second Temple period (roughly 500 BC – 70 AD) Sheol is
considered to be the home of the dead wicked, while paradise is the
home of the dead righteous until the Last Judgement (e.g. 1
Enoch 22; Luke 16:19-31). In some texts, Sheol was considered a place of
punishment, meant for the wicked dead,[1] and is equated
with Gehenna in the Talmud.[2] When the Hebrew scriptures were
translated into Greek in ancient Alexandria around 200 BC, the word
"Hades" (the Greek underworld) was substituted for Sheol.[3] This is
reflected in the New Testament where Hades is both the underworld of
the dead and the personification of it.
Old Testament[edit]
In the Septuagint (an ancient translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek),
the Greek term ᾅδης (Hades) is used to translate the Hebrew term שאול
(Sheol) in, for example, Isaiah 38:18.[1]
New Testament
In New Testament Greek, the Hebrew phrase "( "לא־תעזב נפׁשי לׁשאולyou
will not abandon my soul to Sheol) in Psalm 16:10 is quoted in Acts
2:27 as "οὐκ ἐγκαταλείψεις τὴν ψυχήν μου εἰς ᾅδου" (you will not
abandon my soul to Hades).
In the Textus Receptus version of the New Testament, on which the
English King James Version is based, the word "ᾅδης" (Hades), appears
11 times;[2] but critical editions of the text of 1 Corinthians 15:55 have
"θάνατος" (death) in place of "ᾅδης".[3] Except in this verse of 1
Corinthians, where it uses "grave", the King James Version translates
"ᾅδης" as "hell". Modern translations, for which there are only 10
instances of the word "ᾅδης" in the New Testament, generally
transliterate it as "Hades".
In all appearances but one, "ᾅδης" has little if any relation
to afterlife rewards or punishments. The one exception is Luke's parable
of Lazarus and the rich man, in which the rich man finds himself, after
death, in Hades,[4] and "in anguish in this flame",[5] while in contrast
the angels take Lazarus to "the bosom of Abraham",[6] described as a state
of comfort.[7]
Death and Hades are repeatedly associated in the Book of Revelation.
[8]
The word "Hades" appears in Jesus' promise to Peter: "And I also say
unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church;
and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it",[9] and in the warning
to Capernaum: "And thou, Capernaum, shalt thou be exalted unto
heaven? thou shalt go down unto Hades."
Hebrew Bible
The word pardes does not appear before the post-Exilic period (post-538
BCE); it occurs in the Song of Songs 4:13, Ecclesiastes 2:5,
and Nehemiah 2:8, in each case meaning "park" or "garden", the original
Persian meaning of the word, where it describes to the royal parks
of Cyrus the Great by Xenophon in Anabasis.
Later in Second Temple era Judaism "paradise" came to be associated
with the Garden of Eden and prophesies of restoration of Eden, and
transferred to heaven. The Septuagint uses the word around 30 times,
both of Eden, (Gen. 2:7 etc.) and of Eden restored (Ezek. 28:13, 36:35 etc.).
In the Apocalypse of Moses, Adam and Eve are expelled from paradise
(instead of Eden) after having been tricked by the serpent. Later after the
death of Adam, the Archangel Michael carries the body of Adam to be
buried in Paradise, which is in the Third Heaven.
New Testament[edit]
The New Testament use and understanding of paradise parallels that of
contemporary Judaism. The word is used three times in the New
Testament writings: