―Down into the pit of destruction (ghath)‖ Psalms 55:23
―Soul‖ as it is used today (an immaterial immortal part of a person) would have no need to be delivered from the pit or corruption, the grave which is would never be in and it would not be subject to corruption.
Summery: Bohr is used in Hebrew parallelism or dualism as being parallel in meaning to grave (sheol); it is a hole in the ground and was sometimes dug by man.
Bohr and ghath are a pit, dungeon or well, a real place on this earth that the living can go down into and come up out of as Joseph when he was cast into a pit, or dead persons as David was asking God not to let him die or be killed and go down to the pit; they are not a place where bodiless souls are put; they are not a subterranean chamber someplace under ground where all immaterial, bodiless, living but totally unconscious and unaware of anything souls are kept together, not God‘s warehouse where He keeps both the unconscious saved and the unconscious lost together unto the resurrection; or not a chamber that has two sides, one side for the conscious saved and one side for the conscious lost who are in torment. It is used in Hebrew dualism in verse 2 as parallel in meaning to sheol–grave.
(8) Psalms 88:3 "And my life draws nigh unto the grave [sheol-Hell]." He thought he would soon die, not soon be in Hell. This is one of the good guys but he clearly indicates that he was expecting to be in sheol soon; therefore, sheol was not translated Hell . He asked, “Will you show wonders to the dead? Shall they that are deceased arise and praise you? Shall your loving kindness be declared in the grave? Or your faithfulness in destruction? Shall your wonders be known in the dark? And your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?” [Psalms 88:10-12]. It is certain that this righteous man did not think he would be alive in Heaven or conscious any place after death and this Psalm is a prayer for deliverance from death; he was asking to be saved from the darkness of death, not from the light of Heaven.
(9) Isaiah 38:9-12 "A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, after his illness and recovery: I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave [sheol-Hell]: I am deprived of the residue of my years…You do make an end of me." King Hezekiah, a godly king of Israel when he was ill had thought he would die and go to the grave before he was old. If sheol had been translated Hell in this passage, he would have said he expected to go into eternal torment in Hell.
(10) Isaiah 38:16-18 King Hezekiah continues by asking God, "Restore me to health, and let me live…for the grave [sheol-Hell] cannot praise you, death cannot celebrate you: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for your truth." No distinction is made of the dead. Neither the good or bad dead can praise God. If the good dead are living in Heaven, why could they not praise God? Those who go down to the pit [the grave] are asleep and know nothing; they cannot hope for God's truth while they are asleep. (1) Death, (2) pit, (3) and grave (sheol) are used interchangeably in this passage. If the faithful goes to Heaven at death why was Hazekiah earnestly praying not to.
(11) Psalms 49:15 "But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave [sheol-261
Hell] for he shall receive me." Like the above this Psalms seems to be speaking of life being prolonged or saved from the grave, not a return to life after death. The translators did not believe God would redeem any from Hell. If the writer of this Psalms was speaking of being redeemed from sheol after his death and sheol had been translated Hell, then this passage would be saying the writer of this Psalm would have expected to be in Hell and redeemed from it.
THE BAD IN THE GRAVE in 7 passages
(1) 1 Kings 2:6 "And let not his hoar head go down to the grave [sheol-Hell] in peace." No one could have peace while he was being burned by Satan or burned by God with a fire many times hotter than any fire on earth and tormented far worse than any torment known to anyone. The Hell preached today is not a place of peace. In 1 Kings 2:6-9 David is telling Solomon not to let Joab die peacefully because of the evil he had done. There is nothing about Joab being forever tormented in Hell in this. David knew Solomon had the power to bring him down the grave, but no one has the power to send anyone to the "Hell" that is preached today, but to make this teach their theology, they seem to be more than willing to give Solomon the power to send him to Hell.
(2) 1 Kings 2:9 "But his hoar head bring you down to the grave [sheol-Hell] with blood," see notes on 1 Kings 2:6 above. A man can shed the blood of another man and bring him down to the grave, but only God could say he was going to Hell if there were one.
(3) Job 21:13 "They spend their day in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave
[sheol-Hell]." “Together they lie sown in the dust, and worms cover them” 21:26. They
" go down to the grave," not to somewhere out in space or who knows where. At one time Hell was believed to be under the earth. In Greek philosophy after death the souls waiting to be reincarnated were under the earth; and Hell, which grew out of Greek philosophy had the souls in torment under the earth. From the Dark Age unto not many years ago, most who believed in Hell believed it was under or deep in the earth just as many who believed in pagan reincarnation believed it was under the earth. Most, but not all, now realize there is no place of torment under the earth and have moved it. Now who knows where they think it is, maybe somewhere out in space, but under the earth is no more unscriptural than any other place. Any torment in the grave [sheol] has to be read into this passage; The New International Version says, “And they go down to the grave in peace.”
In Job 3:17-19 Job gives a picture of sheol–the grave with the wicked and the righteous at rest together that is nothing like today‘s teaching of the soul or all being in Heaven or tormented in Hell. “ There the wicked cease from raging, and there the weary are at rest. The prisoners are at ease together; they do not hear the voice of the taskmaster.
The small and the great are there, and the slave is free from his master.” They all sleep; Job would be out of his torment.
(4) Job 24:19 "Drought and heat consume the snow waters: so does the grave [sheol-Hell] those which have sinned." All are consumed by the grave just as heat consumes the snow is a far cry from torment in a Hell where we are told that those that have sinned are never consumed. Job just did not understand and needed Jonathan Edwards to tell him that those that sinned are not consumed in the grave but are in Hell, a place of endless torment where they will never be consumed, that the heat of Hell will never consume them “as heat consumes the snow.”
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(5) Psalms 31:17 "Let me not be ashamed, O Lord; for I have called upon you: let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave [sheol-Hell]." This is David asking God to let his enemies that were trying to kill him die. The translators knew David was not asking God not to let those in Hell cry out in pain as they were being tormented.
He was asking for their end, not for them to be silent when they are being tormented in Hell. “Let the wicked be…silent in the grave,” there are no cries of anguish by the wicked; most who believe in Hell believe that it will be anything but silent, but that there will be eternal yells from the pain; those who believe in Hell teach that the wicked will be weeping, wailing and gnashing their teeth, there is nothing silent about weeping and wailing. According to the view of the Hell that many believe in David would be asking God to torment many, but most of those who believe in eternal torment in Hell would condemn anyone who prayed in church for God to forever burn most in the hot fires of the Hell they believe in.
(6) (7) Psalms 49:14 "Like sheep they are lain in the grave [sheol-Hell]; death shall feed on them" Also Hebrew dualism. Although this is speaking of the wicked, no one believes sheep will be tormented in Hell, therefore, the translators could not put them in Hell as they usually did with the wicked; sheep do go to sheol–the grave just as the dead of mankind and all animals, but not to a chamber under the earth where many believe all the dead go; if sheol was such a chamber this passage would put sheep and all living being in it. "And the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave [sheol-Hell] .” No matter how much beauty a person may have when living, that beauty will consume in the grave; they will swell up and decay in the grave. Although this is speaking of the wicked, sheol was not translated Hell for the translators did not believe anyone will decay and be consumed in Hell; they believed an immortal soul is the part of a person that will always be the same, not consume or decay away with the swelling of the dead body, but they had to put both decaying bodies and sheep in sheol, but neither decaying bodies or sheep could be in sheol if it was a chamber or place (called by some ―the place of the dead‖ or ―the holding place of souls‖) where God has all the souls of the dead are stored away. "And their form shall be for Sheol to consume, so that they have no habitation" [New American Standard Bible]. If they were in Hell they would have an eternal habitation and sheol could not consume a soul if it were immortal; “their form” is their bodies, which are consumed in sheol–the grave.
[4] BOTH THE GOOD AND BAD
IN THE GRAVE TOGETHER in 11 passages
The good and bad together in the grave in 9 passages
(1) 1 Samuel 2:6 "The lord kills and makes alive: he brings down to the grave [sheol-Hell], and brings up." If they had translated this Hell, they would have the Lord brings up from Hell, but they believed no one could come out of Hell and have a second chance after they were in Hell, therefore, they did not use Hell. Coming out of Hell would completely upset their theology.
(2) Job 7:9 "As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away: so he that goes down to the
grave [sheol-Hell] shall come up no more." All go down to the grave. They could not have translated this into Hell for then they would have put all in Hell together, both the good and the bad. Neither do they believe any soul in "Hell" will vanish away as bodies in the grave do; there is no torment in bodies vanishing away in the grave.
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(3) Psalms 6:5 "For in death there is no remembrance of you: in the grave [sheol-Hell] who shall give you thanks?" David is not saying that only these in Hell have no remembrance of God, but that none of the dead have any remembrance or none can give Him thanks. If the bad were in Hell and the good in Heaven or Abraham's bosom, then both the bad and the good would have a remembrance of God. Could anyone be in Heaven and have no remembrance of God, or those who are being tormented in Hell will have no remembrance of the God who is tormenting him or her? If they had translated this Hell, they would have put all, both the good and the bad in Hell with no remembrance of why they were there or of the God that was tormenting them. This statement is a flat contradiction of today's theology of an immortal soul that is only a part of a person. That the dead are unconscious is so strongly stated in this passage that those who believe the dead are conscious have a hard time with it. This is shown in the Connelly-Field "Debate On The State Of The Dead" when Thomas P. Connelly said,
"The desire expressed here is for salvation, in view of the fact that there is no chance of salvation in the grave; those who go to the grave unprepared give God no thanks, they do not remember the Lord, the term remembrance being used in the sense of obedience." David was asking God to save him from death "for in death there is no remembrance of You." It was David who did believe in God that would have no remembrance of Him, not someone who went to the grave not believing in God. David was not, as Connelly said, someone who went "to the grave unprepared." Connelly's statement on Psalm 146:3-4 again shows the dilemma of those who do not want to believe God. "Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goes forth, he returns to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish." Connelly said, "The term thoughts in this text, as is evident not only from the word used in the Septuagint, but from the context, means designs or purposes. We are exhorted not to trust in man, for though he may design to bless us, he is destined to die, when his purpose must fail--
they must perish." The Christian Church, in which he is an Evangelist, believes no one can change God's word, but he changes "thoughts" into "purpose" when they are different words in the Hebrew and the word "thoughts" never means "purpose." and is never translated "purpose." Connelly-Field "Debate On The State Of The Dead"
(4) Psalms 89:48 "What man is he that lives and shall not see death? Shall he deliver his soul [life-nehphesh] from the hand of the grave [sheol-Hell]?” This is another Hebrew dualism that is used throughout Psalm; in this dualism the grave and sheol are synonymous terms. A person cannot keep himself from death and the grave; he was speaking of his life [nehphesh] that he could not be kept from the grave, not an
―immaterial invisible‖ something that cannot die and will never go to the grave. If this grave [sheol] were Hell, then no person could keep himself from Hell, not even the righteous. All die and go to the grave [sheol], but no one believes all go to Hell. Although this Psalm is speaking of all, both the good and the bad, all can see why the translators did not translate sheol into Hell in this passage for they believed the righteous will keep their souls from Hell, but why did the translators make the writer of this Psalm say no one can keep their ―soul‖ (that the translators believed could not die) from the grave? A soul that cannot die but cannot be kept from the grave makes this passage as it is translated in the King James Version be nonsense. It was his life that he could not keep from the grave, not an immortal soul that would never dead and never in the grave.
(5) Psalms 141:7 "Our bones are scattered at the grave's [sheol-Hell] mouth, as when one cuts and cleaves wood upon the earth." Will the bones of those in Hell be scattered at the mouth of Hell and not be in it? Whatever David means by grave's mouth, he is not saying that the inside of the grave [sheol/hades] has two sides, one side for the good and 264
one for the bad. Even the King James translators did not think so and translated it grave, not Hell. Bones can be scattered only at the mouth of a grave (many grave were caves), not Hell and not any kind of holding place inside the earth. There is nothing about torment or an immortal soul in this Psalm.
(6) Proverbs 1:12 "Let us swallow them up alive as the grave [sheol-Hell]: and whole, as those that go down into the pit."
(7) Proverbs 30:16 " The grave [sheol-Hell] says not 'It is enough.'" No matter how many die, the point will never be reached when no more can die.
(8) Ecclesiastes 9:10 "Whatsoever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave [sheol-Hell],
whether you go." In the same chapter Solomon says, "The dead know not anything"
[Ecclesiastes 9:5]. “His breath departs, he returns to the earth; in that very day his thoughts perish” [Psalms 146:4]. “The dead do no praise the Lord, nor do any that go down into silence, but we (those who are alive) will bless the Lord” [Psalm 115:17].
Those in the grave know nothing and will know nothing unto the resurrection. A Hell or a Heaven where those in them knows nothing and does nothing, neither good or bad would not be the Hell or the Heaven the Catholics or the Protestants believe the dead to be living in; a Hell where those in it have no knowledge would be a place of torment where those being tormented would not have any knowledge that they were in torment.
Solomon is not speaking in figurative language. A more positive statement that the dead are now unconscious could not be made; “whether you go” not ―whether an immaterial something in you goes.‖ It could not be said any plainer that death is death and no part of anyone is alive before the resurrection; that after death no part of a person has thoughts or knows anything.
(9) Song of Solomon 8:6 "Love is as strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave
[sheol-Hell]." No distinction is made of the good or the bad. The bad and the good are the same to the grave, it takes everything from all.
THE GOOD AND BAD TOGETHER IN HELL in 2 passages
(1) Job 11:8 "It is as high as heaven; what can you do? Deeper than Hell [grave-sheol] [Hell changed to sheol in New King James Version]; what can you know?" "They are higher than the heavens-what can you do? They are deeper than the depths of the grave-what can you know" New International Version. This is one of Job's comforters, Zophar. God said, "My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends, because you have not spoken of Me what is right as My servant Job has" [Job 42:7]. Can the words of Job's friends, which God says are not "right," be used to prove any truth?
What is both higher than the heavens and deeper than the depths of the grave? The mysteries of God and the limits of the almighty [11:7]. All though Job's friend might not have been speaking what was right, there still is nothing in what they said about anything after death or after the judgment. In this, as in all the sixty-five uses of sheol, there is no torment after death.
(2) Job 26:6 " Hell [grave-sheol] is naked before him, and destruction has no covering."
When a person who believes in the Hell that is taught today reads the King James Old Testament he or she finds a Hell that is totally difference and contradictorily to what they have been taught. The passages where sheol was mistranslated to put Hell in the Bible 265
describe a place very unlike the Hell that is now believed in by many, and the wrong people are sometimes in it, sometimes while that are still living.
[5] BOTH THE GOOD AND BAD IN HELL (In 15 passages)
Both in Hell in King James Version
The good in Hell in 7 passages
(1) 2 Samuel 22:6 "When the waves of death compassed me, the floods of ungodly men made me afraid; The sorrows of Hell [grave-sheol] [Hell changed to sheol in New King James Version] compassed me about; the snares of death prevented me." Up to the time of David, Hell is used in the King James Version only one time. From Genesis one to the time of David in 2 Samuel, over three thousand years had passed before the second time the word Hell was put into the King James Version; but, even then, the New King James takes it out. 2 Samuel 22:5-6 is David speaking about troubles and fears he had, including fear of death for he was running from Saul who was trying to kill him. It is difficult to see why the King James Version put "Hell" in this passage for when they did it is far from being what those who believe in "Hell" believe. Was David running from Saul because he thought Saul would send him to the grave or would send him to Hell? Even those who believe in Hell do not believe Saul could have sent David to it.
There is nothing in it about anything after death or after the judgment day. "The sorrows of Hell compassed me about" and "the snares of death prevented me" are Hebrew dualism.
Matthew Henry said, "This is expressed figuratively. He was surrounded with death on every side, threatened to be overwhelmed, and saw no way of escape" Matthew Henry's Commentary, Page 357.
(2) Psalms 16:10 "For you will not leave my soul in Hell [grave-sheol] [Hell changed to sheol in New King James Version]: neither wilt you suffer your Holy One to see corruption." This is used in Acts 2 and is about Christ. The translators put most of the saved in the grave, not in Hell, but this says his soul was not left in sheol. The translators were in a dilemma in this passage.
1. They could not put a "soul" (as the word is used today-an invisible, immaterial, no substance nothing) in the grave, which would be to admit that a soul could be dead.
2. Or they had to put Christ in Hell. If Christ were alive in Hell, He was alive and never was dead, therefore, there was no resurrection of Christ. Did God raise Christ from the dead, or did God just take the living Christ who was not dead out
of Hell? Christ paid our debt, which was death, not eternal torment.
This is Hebrew dualism where the same thought is given in two ways.
1. “For you will not leave my soul in Hell [grave-sheol].‖
2. “Neither wilt you suffer your Holy One to see corruption.‖ Corruption is in the grave, not in ―Hell.‖
(3) Psalms 18:5 "I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies. The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. The sorrows of Hell [grave-sheol "grave" in margin of King James Version] [Hell changed to sheol in New King James Version] compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me. In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God; he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him even into his ears." This is David saying about the same thing that he said in 2 Samuel 22:5-6. See notes there. This is Hebrew dualism where the same thing is said in two ways. "The sorrows of sheol compassed me about" and "the snares of death prevented me" are two 266
ways of saying the same thing. If Hell were a place of eternal torment after death and David had been compassed about by it, he would not have been alive on earth to write this. This is one of the good guys who came near unto death and was saved ― from mine enemies,‖ not came near unto Hell.
(4) Psalms 86:13 "For great is your mercy toward me: and you have delivered my soul from the lowest HELL [grave-sheol]." [Hell changed to sheol in New King James Version]. [Footnote in King James Version: "Or, grave"]. Neither the Catholic, Protestant nor the after judgment versions of Hell believe that a person can go the Hell and come back to live on Earth. The writer of this Psalm is thanking God for saving his life from the grave, not for bring him back from eternal torment in Hell, but for bring him back from a place he had been and was delivered from it while he was alive in the body. The New Revised Standard Version says, " You have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol" [sheol-grave]. At the time David was writing this he had not been to the Hell that is taught today, and could not have been delivered from it for the today’s Hell is a place of eternal torment from which none will ever be delivered. It is no wonder that the New King James took "Hell" out of this passage.
If this passage were believed as it is translated in the King James Version, using the words "soul" and "Hell" as they are used and understood today it would teach: 1. The soul can be in Hell and be tormented when the person is still living on earth, before death.
2. The soul can come back from Hell. A soul in Hell can be delivered from Hell!
Also 1 Samuel 2:6; Psalms 16:10: 30:3 49:15; 88:3.
3. There is more than one Hell. If there were a "lowest hell," there would have to be one or more Hells above it. Does anyone believe that are many Hells?
4. The soul of the righteous can be in Hell. The soul of David would have had to be in Hell if it was delivered from Hell.
5. Souls are in hell before the judgment day.
In trying to put Hell in the Bible, they made a mess of things, a mess that no one believes, not even the translators that made the mess. In the next verse it is clearly indicated that this is deliverance from a threat of death from those who sought his life. "O
God, arrogant men have risen up against me, and a band of violent men have sought my life [nehphesh]" [New American Standard Bible].
In this Psalm the beliefs of the translators give them only two choices. They had to:
Put a soul that could not be dead in the grave
Or put a soul in Hell
There choice was to put a soul in Hell even if it was David‘s soul in Hell before his dea