The word “hell” occurs thirty-one times in the Old Testament and in every instance it is “sheol” in the Hebrew. It does not mean a lake of fire and brimstone, nor anything at all resembling that thought: not in the slightest degree! Quite the reverse: instead of a place of blazing fire, it is described in the context as a state of “darkness” (Job 10:21); instead of a place where shrieks and groans are heard, it is described in the context as a place of “silence” (Psalms 115:17); instead of representing in any sense pain and suffering, or remorse, the context describes it as a place or condition of forgetfulness (Psalms 88:11,12). “There is no work, nor device, nor knowledge . . . in the grave [sheol] whither thou goest.” — Ecc. 9:10.

The meaning of sheol is “the hidden state,” as applied to man’s condition in death, in and beyond which all is hidden, except to the eye of faith; hence, by proper and close association, the word was often used in the sense of grave — the tomb, the hidden place, or place beyond which only those who have the enlightened eye of understanding can see resurrection, restitution of being. And be it particularly noted that this identical word sheol is translated “grave” thirty-one times and “pit” three times in our common version by the same translators — more times than it is translated “hell.” Twice, where it is translated “hell,” it seemed so absurd, according to the present accepted meaning of the English word “hell,” that scholars have felt it necessary to  explain  in  the  margin  of  modern  Bibles,  that  is  means grave. (Isa. 14:9 and Jonah 2:2) In the latter case, the hidden state, or grave, was the belly of the fish in which Jonah was buried alive, and from which he cried to God.