Hades or the world of the dead (as if a subterranean retreat ), including its accessories and inmates
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שְׁאוֹל (sheol) is the OT's primary term for the realm of the dead — the place to which all the dead descend, characterized by silence, separation from earthly activity, and the cessation of the active praise of YHWH. Understanding sheol correctly requires holding together the OT's full picture: sheol is real and universal (all go there), but it is not outside YHWH's sovereign reach, and one psalm in particular —.
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Full entry for שְׁאוֹל (H7585) · Open the biblical lexicon
שְׁאוֹל (sheol) is the OT's primary term for the realm of the dead — the place to which all the dead descend, characterized by silence, separation from earthly activity, and the cessation of the active praise of YHWH. Understanding sheol correctly requires holding together the OT's full picture: sheol is real and universal (all go there), but it is not.
The BSB source-word alignment has 66 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include to Sheol (20), of Sheol (14), Sheol (13), in Sheol (5), for Sheol (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 37:35. Its strongest book concentrations include Psalms (16), Isaiah (10), Proverbs (9), Job (8).
שְׁאוֹל (sheol) is the OT's primary term for the realm of the dead — the place to which all the dead descend, characterized by silence, separation from earthly activity, and the cessation of the active praise of YHWH. Understanding sheol correctly requires holding together the OT's full picture: sheol is real and universal (all go there), but it is not outside YHWH's sovereign reach, and one psalm in particular — Psalm 16:10 — sets up the Christological trajectory that the NT reads as the resurrection.
Sheol's defining characteristic in the OT is its comprehensiveness: all the dead go there, great and small alike. Job 3:13-19 pictures sheol as the place where 'kings and counselors of the earth rebuild what was in ruins... the small and the great are there, and the slave is free from his master.' The social leveling of sheol is not hope but a description of its absolute finality for the living: whatever status one held in life, sheol reduces everyone to the same silence.
Isaiah 38:18 gives sheol its most pointed theological statement: 'For Sheol does not thank you, death does not praise you; those who go down to the pit do not hope for your faithfulness.' Hezekiah speaks this as the testimony of the dying — the urgency of praise and life before sheol is what makes Isaiah 38:19 the reversal: 'The living, the living, he thanks you, as I do this day; the father makes known to the children your faithfulness.' The contrast is absolute: life is praise; sheol is silence.
Psalm 16:10 is the most theologically determinative sheol-text in the OT: 'For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol (lo-titeveni laneshamah lo-titen chasidekha lir'ot shachat), or let your holy one (chasidekha) see corruption (shachat).' The psalmist's confidence that YHWH will not abandon him to sheol goes beyond the ordinary hope of divine protection in life — the Hebrew is 'you will not leave my soul in Sheol.' Peter quotes it at Pentecost (Acts 2:27, 31): 'he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses.' Paul quotes it at Antioch (Acts 13:35). The resurrection of Christ is presented as the specific fulfillment of Psalm 16:10: the Holy One who does not see sheol-corruption is Jesus, risen.
Psalm 139:8 gives sheol its most important theological frame: 'If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!' YHWH's presence is not bounded by sheol — the realm of the dead is not outside his reach. Amos 9:2 makes this a warning: 'Though they dig into Sheol, from there shall my hand take them.' The sovereignty of YHWH over sheol is the ground of the resurrection hope.
For the preacher, שְׁאוֹל (sheol) is the word that makes the resurrection necessary and makes it mean something. If there were no sheol — no realm of death and silence — then the resurrection of Christ would have no depth. Because sheol is real, the promise of Psalm 16:10 is real; because that promise was fulfilled in the resurrection, sheol is not the final word for those in Christ.
שְׁאוֹל (sheol) appears 66 times. Its theological center is the realm of death as the destination of all the dead, characterized by silence and the absence of praise (Isa 38:18). Psalm 16:10's 'you will not abandon my soul to Sheol' is the most theologically determinative use: quoted twice in Acts as fulfilled by the resurrection of Christ. Psalm 139:8's 'if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there' affirms YHWH's sovereignty over the realm of the dead.
For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol, nor will You let Your Holy One see decay.
The messianic sheol-text: 'lo-titeveni nefsho li-sheol, lo-titen chasidekha lir'ot shachat (you will not leave my soul to Sheol; you will not permit your holy one to see the pit/corruption).' Acts 2:27, 31 and 13:35 both quote this verse as fulfilled in the resurrection of Christ. Peter's argument in Acts 2:29-31 is explicit: David died and his tomb is known (he saw sheol); therefore 'he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.'
The chasid (holy one) of Psalm 16:10 is the one who does not remain in sheol — specifically, Jesus risen on the third day.
For Sheol cannot thank You; Death cannot praise You. Those who descend to the Pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness.
Hezekiah's lament from the shadow of death: 'ki lo sheol todekha, mavet yehallalekha; lo yisaberu yoredei bor el amitekha (for Sheol does not thank you, death does not praise you; those going down to the pit do not hope in your faithfulness).' Sheol is defined by the absence of todah (thank-offering, praise) and hallel (praise) and tiqvah (hope). The contrast with verse 19 ('the living, the living, he thanks you') makes praise the mark of life itself.
Sheol is silence; life is praise. This verse gives the theological urgency to the whole canon of praise-psalms: praise is done now, in this body, before sheol.
If I ascend to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there.
YHWH's ubiquity over sheol: 'im-ascend heaven shamma atah; ve-atsiya sheol hinneka (if I ascend to heaven, you are there; and if I spread out Sheol, behold you).' The poetic merism (heaven above / sheol below) encompasses the full range of possible location: YHWH cannot be escaped in either direction. In the Psalm's context (vv. 7-12), this is a doxology of comfort — YHWH's presence in sheol is not a threat but a promise: death does not take the psalmist beyond God's reach.
The resurrection-logic depends on this: because YHWH is present even in sheol, he can bring the dead back from it.
Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.
Sheol's insatiable character: 'sheol va-avaddon lo tisbena (Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied)' — the parallel with 'the eyes of man' frames sheol as the destination of insatiable human desire. Proverbs 1:12 gives sheol its devouring image: 'let us swallow them alive, like Sheol, and whole, like those who go down to the pit.' The personification of sheol as a swallowing, hungry entity is the rhetorical amplification of its comprehensiveness: the image presses toward comprehensive reach among the dead, and it is pictured as never full.
Isaiah 5:14 gives the same image: 'Therefore Sheol has enlarged its appetite and opened its mouth beyond measure.'
I will ransom them from the power of Sheol; I will redeem them from Death. Where, O Death, are your plagues? Where, O Sheol, is your sting? Compassion is hidden from My eyes.
YHWH's rhetorical challenge to sheol: 'miyyad sheol epdeim, mi-mavet eg'alem; ehi devareikha mavet, ehi qatavkha sheol (from the hand of Sheol I will ransom them, from Death I will redeem them; O Death, where are your plagues; O Sheol, where is your sting?) ' In Hosea 13's context, YHWH's judgment on Ephraim makes the question almost ironic: the compassion 'hidden from my eyes' (v.
14B) suggests the rhetorical questions are followed by judgment, not rescue. Paul quotes this in 1 Corinthians 15:55 as a triumph-shout over death in the resurrection: 'O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?' — taking the taunt against sheol as the resurrection's declaration over death's defeat.
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Hebrew word. The subterranean realm where all the dead dwell, without moral differentiation until late Judaism
The subterranean realm where all the dead dwell, without moral differentiation until late Judaism
hades or the world of the dead (as if a subterranean retreat), including its accessories and inmates BDB: Shᵉ’ōl Usage: grave, hell, pit.
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 4 selected witnesses from 66 lexical occurrence verses.
שְׁאוֹל is built from this root:
Sheol imagery emphasizes the humiliation and leveling of earthly power. Isaiah 14:9-11
Expresses the reality of mortality in Old Testament perspective. Isaiah 38:9-20
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
שְׁאוֹל (sheol) is the word that gives the resurrection its full theological weight. The OT's portrait of sheol is stark: it is universal (all go there), silent (no praise, no hope, no faithfulness, Isa 38:18), insatiable (Prov 27:20), and — crucially — not outside YHWH's reach (Ps 139:8). Psalm 16:10 is the hinge: 'you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, nor let your holy one see corruption.'
This is not just a hope for rescue from premature death — the specificity ('not remain in Sheol,' 'not see corruption') points beyond ordinary deliverance to something only the resurrection can fulfill. Peter's Pentecost sermon (Acts 2:29-31) makes the logic explicit: David died and saw sheol; therefore Psalm 16:10's 'holy one who does not see corruption' cannot be David — it must be the one who was raised before his body decayed.
The resurrection of Jesus is the specific fulfillment of the specific promise of Psalm 16:10. Paul's 1 Corinthians 15:55 ('O death, where is your sting? O Sheol, where is your victory?') quotes Hosea 13:14 as the resurrection's declaration: the taunting-question that YHWH directs at death in the prophet becomes the church's triumph-shout over an already-defeated enemy.
Sheol is real; it is universal; it is the terminus of all human existence apart from the resurrection. And because Christ has been raised from sheol, those who are his will not ultimately remain there either (1 Cor 15:20-23).
Ps.16.10
שְׁאוֹל (sheol, H7585) appears about 66 times in the local Hebrew index, generally functioning as a proper noun or near-proper noun designating the underworld. Key parallel terms in the OT: בּוֹר (bor, H953 — pit, cistern); אֲבַדּוֹן (Abaddon, H11 — destruction/the abyss); צַלְמָוֶת (tsalmaveth, H6757 — deep darkness/shadow of death, Ps 23:4); מָוֶת (mavet, H4194 — death).
Sheol in the NT is rendered by Hades (G86, the Greek underworld) in the LXX and NT: Acts 2:27, 31; Rev 6:8 ('Death and Hades followed him'); Rev 20:13-14 ('Death and Hades gave up the dead... Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire'). The LXX consistently translates sheol as Hades; the NT inherits this translation. The English word 'hell' in older translations (KJV) often renders sheol where the modern translations use 'Sheol' or 'the grave.'
The theological distinction between sheol/Hades (the intermediate state of the dead) and Gehenna (G1067, the place of final judgment, Matt 5:22, 10:28) is important: sheol is the realm of the dead awaiting judgment; Gehenna is the place of final condemnation.
Acts 2:27-31 (Peter's Pentecost sermon) and Acts 13:35 (Paul's Antioch sermon) are the NT's most direct engagements with sheol via Psalm 16:10. Both sermons make the same argument: David died and was buried (seen by Hades); the 'holy one' of Psalm 16:10 who does not see Hades-corruption must be the Messiah, raised from the dead. First Corinthians 15:55 quotes Hosea 13:14's taunt against sheol as the resurrection's triumph-declaration: 'O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?' The sting is sin; the power of sin is the law; the victory is given through Christ (v. 56-57). Revelation 20:13-14 gives sheol its final destiny: 'Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them... Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.' Sheol/Hades is itself destroyed in the final judgment. Matthew 16:18 gives sheol its ecclesiological form: 'on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades (pylai hadou) shall not prevail against it.'
The church's advance is against the gates of sheol — death does not stop the expansion of the kingdom.
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