Biblical Terms for Hell: Gehenna, Sheol, Hades, and the Lake of Fire

Editor’s note – Talk of Hell tends to make people uncomfortable, and this author leans into that discomfort rather than away from it. She walks through five distinct Biblical words often flattened into one English term, and the distinctions matter for how we understand judgment, mercy, and what Christ actually warned against. We’re running this piece because clarity about Hell isn’t morbid curiosity – it’s part of taking Scripture seriously on its own terms.

An article I wrote recently on Jesus’s teachings about Hell sparked several conversations and got me rabbit-trailing in my mind, so I figured we’d go down one of them:

Hell is not a reference to one single place. It’s actually multiple.

Gehenna

We talked about Gehenna in the article I mentioned above, so I won’t go into detail in this one, but to summarize: it was a real place that the Jews would have been familiar with. This was a place of constantly burning fires and wickedness, reserved for pagan rituals, disposing of refuse, and burning criminals’ bodies.

Sounds lovely, right?

Gehenna is a Greek word that is translated most often as “Hell” in English. Here is an example from Luke:

But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. [Luke 12:5]

But I will show you⁺ whom you⁺ should fear: Fear the One having authority, after the killing, to cast into Gehenna. Yes, I say to you⁺, fear Him! [Luke 12:5]

Editor’s note – It’s worth noticing that Jesus used a real, physical location His listeners could picture to describe eternal judgment. That choice makes the warning concrete rather than abstract – He wasn’t reaching for poetry; He was reaching for something His audience already knew to fear.

Sheol

This Hebrew word means “grave” or “pit” in English, which we sometimes also translate as “Hell.” It refers to the underworld, or the place people go after they die, as they await the final judgement (this is different from Catholicism’s teaching on Purgatory, but that’s for another article). As we’ll see in the next section, there’s a great chasm in the grave, separating the tormented wicked from the righteous resting in paradise.

As David sings in Psalm 16:

because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay. [Psalm 16:10]

For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. [Psalm 16:10]

A thread to hang onto for later: Jesus is the “holy one” David is talking about here. But I digress…

Hades

The Greek counterpart to the Hebrew word “Sheol” is “Hades” (and if you’re now picturing a tall, charismatic grey guy with blue flames for hair, you’re welcome for that little time capsule moment).

“Hades” is used in the New Testament to refer to the realm of the dead, and sometimes figuratively refers to Death, much how “Sheol” is used in the Old Testament.

In Revelation we learn that those being held in Hades will eventually find themselves in the lake of fire along with Satan and his demons.

We see it used in Luke, in the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus (the beggar):

The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. [Luke 16:22-23]

We’re told Lazarus was carried to Abraham’s side, which is paradise for those who belong to Christ, as Jesus tells the thief on the cross.

Jesus answered him, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise." [Luke 23:43]

The rich man, however, descended to Hades, where he was tormented. He begs Abraham to send Lazarus back to warn his family about the terrible place, but Abraham tells him they wouldn’t believe even if someone arose from the dead (foreshadowing, no?) and that no one could traverse the great chasm.

I know this sounds incredibly harsh to some, but keep in mind the rich man never made mention of Jesus in all his pleading. He wanted his suffering to end, but not the One who could end it.

Editor’s note – The rich man’s silence about Jesus is the detail easiest to miss in this parable. He wanted relief, not the One who grants it, and that gap between wanting comfort and wanting Christ Himself shows up in plenty of prayers offered today.

Tartarus

With this word, we see some overlap into Greek mythology. Known as a deep, gloomy pit, Tartarus is the place of punishment where God sends fallen angels.

Appearing only once in the New Testament, Tartarus is also translated as “Hell” in English. 2 Peter 2:4 says:

For if God did not spare the angels having sinned, but having cast them down to Tartarus in chains of gloomy darkness, He delivered them, being kept for judgment. [2 Peter 2:4]

For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment. [2 Peter 2:4]

This is not a place for human imprisonment, but rather for rebellious celestial beings to await their final sentencing on Judgement Day.

Editor’s note – Scripture treats fallen angels and unrepentant humanity as facing distinct, though related, judgments. That distinction doesn’t soften Hell’s reality; it shows how carefully God has ordered even His judgment.

Lake of Fire

Perhaps the most well-known phrase for “Hell” is the “Lake of Fire.”

Seen most often in Revelation, this is the final resting place for those, human and celestial, who choose a life apart from God. Riddled with Satan and his demons, this will be a place of endless anguish.

And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, into which the beast and the false prophet had already been thrown. There they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death — the lake of fire. And if anyone was found whose name was not written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. [Revelation 20:10, 14-15]

Those who have been waiting for judgment in Sheol/Hades will be sentenced to the Lake of Fire if their name isn’t found in the Book of Life.

There, they will face unending torment along with Satan and his demons. However, those who choose to love Jesus will spend eternity securely by His side.

Teaching about Hell is not a scare tactic, as some tend to think. Those who don’t want to dwell with the Lord are not scared into a relationship with Him just by the knowledge of Hell.

If that were the case, wouldn’t Satan himself turn and follow Christ?

This article may seem a bit much, or like too much information, and you may be asking, “Why are we talking about Hell and its compartments?” Well, because it’s important. Not that we want to stay in the weeds all the time, but sometimes it’s necessary to get in them a little because that’s where we find clarity.

Some claim that Jesus taught only about Gehenna during His earthly ministry, and that there must not be a place such as Hell. But Jesus reveals to John in Revelation that the place of endless torment is the Lake of Fire. Gehenna is terrible, but the fiery lake will be unimaginable.

We tend to forget, or overlook, the fact that the Bible is an ancient text and we can’t treat it the way we’d treat a modern document. There are nuances and cultural practices we miss when we read it with a 21st century lens.

Here’s another way to look at it:

When we read books like Little House on the Prairie, we understand that it was written in a different time than the one we live in now. We know we need some knowledge under our belt in order to truly understand how the family would have perceived certain events in the book or what their life was really like.

However, if we didn’t know anything about history, could we still read the book? Yes, absolutely! We could still appreciate the recounting of Laura’s life with her family on the prairie, and the overarching themes of hard work, love, and perseverance.

But we’d miss a lot.

We wouldn’t understand the significance of Mary losing her sight after suffering with scarlet fever. We’d know it was unfortunate to lose her sight, but we wouldn’t truly grasp the magnitude of a person in that day not being able to see, or how greatly her family sacrificed to make sure she could thrive, not just survive, living life as a blind person.

But what about the Holy Spirit? Can’t we just read the Bible and not worry about all the studying? The Holy Spirit guides our study and gives us discernment, absolutely. But He also gives us the gift of learning and knowledge, and I believe this is so we can better know and understand God’s heart. We use this gift every day at school or work, so why wouldn’t we use it even more with God’s Word?

Research and academics don’t change the gospel message, but they do bring us to a place of better, deeper understanding, like realizing that “Hell” is a reference to more than one place.

Thanks for reading! My heart is truly to see others dive deeper into Scripture and reason through things Biblically. These are wild times, but together we can chase clarity in a confused world!

A Word from the Editor
Hell isn’t one flat idea in Scripture – it’s Gehenna’s smoke, Sheol’s silence, Hades’ torment, Tartarus’s chains, and finally the lake of fire where death itself is undone.

Editor Comment: You show that Scripture describes Hell with more depth than a single fiery image, and that distinction matters for how we read judgment in the Bible. The rich man never mentions Jesus in his pleading, and you rightly place the real warning there rather than in his suffering.

This article appeared on Medium and is reprinted with modifications and by permission.