These days the English Bibles, in that sentence, do not include the word "hell":
If I go up to heaven, you are there;
if I go down to the grave,[a] you are there (Psalm 139:8, NLT).
The KJV has "hell" 31 times in the Old Testament (OT). Since the English OT revision of 1884 the word used is "sheol" (= the Hebrew transliterated), or, "grave". In Bibles of our day the word "hell" does not appear in the OT.
To take an example, the New International Version (NIV) has "hell" 13 times in its New Testament (NT) and not at all in the OT. In fact the word "hell" is simply infrequent in the Bible as a whole (see table).
The word "hell" in English carries a lot of history and it is used as an interpretation of what the Bible says.
One example from Jesus; words he spoke to the people who claimed to follow God and to adhere to the words of God:
But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell (Matthew 5:22, NIV); ie, "blazing gehenna". The picture is crystal-clear. Escalating ill-will to others (including denigration and insult) calls for escalated or equivalent consequences; consequences that are scarcely literal.
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| This image may fit some traditional notions of "the fire of hell" |
Jesus certainly gave blunt words to the adherents of his ancestral religion. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell (gehenna), to the unquenchable fire (Mark 9:43, NRSV). This is salutary, even if we would not actually engage in self-amputation; nor would the removal of such a body part solve the problem. The "blazing hell" word fits the burning landfill near Jerusalem, a place and destiny to avoid. (See below for more of this pericope.) The injunction must carry forward to Jesus' followers in our day.
Jesus had severe words for those of his co-religionists who refused to receive and heed him. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades (Luke 10:15, ESV). Jesus’ words characterise their independent pride as leading to grim consequence, the opposite of their imagined superiority, and prominence, and bright future. (“Hades”? The place of the dead; here put as the opposite of "heaven".)
So also: If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. (Psalm 139:8, NRSV)
As in the quotation above from Psalm 139, the grave ("sheol" or "hades", place of the dead) is put in contrast with heaven. The Greek Bible uses the same "hades" ("hell") word in both statements (Luke and Psalm). However, Jesus was hardly assuring the Capernaum hearers that wherever they were, God was there! (That is true, but it was not his point.)
Probably a story Jesus once told has continued, or contributed to, the notion of the furnace type of "hell", with tormented souls longing to quench their thirst! In that unique word-picture, Jesus puts together fiery torment and a state of the unjust dead: In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side (Luke 16:23, NIV). The whole story of the selfish rich man who came to a bad end is plainly that, a story, and can not be taken literally. Its vivid portrayal of the "furnace of hell" seems reminiscent of the descriptions in the last book of the Bible and of other literature of the period.
Some modern historical fiction writers mine a primitive and medieval use of that fire-y "hell" as a deliberate threat to maintain or establish ecclesiastical power. (I do not know how the truth of that can be ascertained but I guess, without a fear of hell, indulgences would not have sold, nor would there be prayers or Masses for the dead.) So also other writers bringing more modern "church" elements into their script, especially of individuals or groups who depend entirely on that classic Bible translation we call the King James Version. It is unfortunate that error or misrepresentation is always possible. We simply have to depend on the Holy Spirit working through the Bible, prayer and thought. Others may help (but not be depended on). A Google search for "hell" indicates 922,000,000 results, starting with Wikipedia!
Jesus said little about any kind of "hell", and that not to his surrounding "pagan" society, but to the followers of his ancestral religion. However, Jesus did certainly have more to say on ultimate consequences of choice made.
Go in through the narrow gate. The gate to destruction is wide, and the road that leads there is easy to follow. A lot of people go through that gate. But the gate to life is very narrow. The road that leads there is so hard to follow that only a few people find it. (Matthew 7:13-14, CEV). Could anyone think the road to destruction is something to take lightly? Who are the few? Why not choose life?
There is a special solemnity as well as promise in some words which come from well before the final phase in Jesus' life:
Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.
“Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.
“Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned (John 5:22-29, NIV). Jesus is The Judge, and everything (life) depends on hearing (heeding) him. The contrasts are: "life" and "condemnation". (The exit from the grave picture is striking, but hardly literal, then or now.)
Jesus was shockingly clear. Drastic action is asked of us, lest God...
“But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to fall away - it would be better for him if a heavy millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.
“And if your hand causes you to fall away, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and go to hell, the unquenchable fire.[a] And if your foot causes you to fall away, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and be thrown into hell.[b] And if your eye causes you to fall away, gouge it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched[c] (Mark 9:42-48, CSB). The picture is stark and absolutely unmistakable - but surely not simply literal. Life (and the kingdom) is promised to the person who will receive it! (Three times there the word "gehenna" is used.)
PLUS:
The "Jesus Account" very often mentions "heaven". In some instances, but not all, the idea is similar to the location (place) in the OT reference at the top of this post.
In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized in the Jordan by John. As soon as he came up out of the water, he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well-pleased” (Mark 1:9-11, CSB). Heavens were opened. A voice came from heaven.
Unsurprisingly, we find a report on this in John. And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him (John 1:32, NRSV). Not only Jesus saw what was to be seen coming down from "heaven" that day. From the observer's viewpoint, "descending" makes sense.
In Nazareth synagogue: “Certainly there were many needy widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the heavens were closed for three and a half years, and a severe famine devastated the land (Luke 4:25, NLT). The word “heaven” there is singular and is used of the weather, of the lack of rain (clouds), rather than of God. Some translations render simply as “no rain”. (Jesus was saying that God had withheld rain from his own people. Not only that, God sent Elijah to help an outsider!)
Matthew has Jesus referring to God's kindness in sun and rain as instructive: so that you may be[a] children of your Father in heaven. For he causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous (Matthew 5:45, CSB). Please God, send from heaven rain to this land.
The end times were part of Jesus’ message, including: Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father (Mark 13:31-32, NRSV). The one "heaven" word evidently is used here in two different ways; and so some translate the first as “the sky and the earth”. (The heaven of the angels can hardly be passing away.)
"Hell" and "heaven": We are looking at matters beyond human imagination. Jesus' community, like ours, held to ideas which may, or may not, hold up under examination!
My table below indicates how much emphasis Jesus evidently gave to these issues, in this form.
My previous post on "Heaven":
Scripture quotations marked (CEV) are from the Contemporary English Version Copyright © 1991, 1992, 1995 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.
Jesus had severe words for those of his co-religionists who refused to receive and heed him. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades (Luke 10:15, ESV). Jesus’ words characterise their independent pride as leading to grim consequence, the opposite of their imagined superiority, and prominence, and bright future. (“Hades”? The place of the dead; here put as the opposite of "heaven".)
So also: If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. (Psalm 139:8, NRSV)
As in the quotation above from Psalm 139, the grave ("sheol" or "hades", place of the dead) is put in contrast with heaven. The Greek Bible uses the same "hades" ("hell") word in both statements (Luke and Psalm). However, Jesus was hardly assuring the Capernaum hearers that wherever they were, God was there! (That is true, but it was not his point.)
Probably a story Jesus once told has continued, or contributed to, the notion of the furnace type of "hell", with tormented souls longing to quench their thirst! In that unique word-picture, Jesus puts together fiery torment and a state of the unjust dead: In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side (Luke 16:23, NIV). The whole story of the selfish rich man who came to a bad end is plainly that, a story, and can not be taken literally. Its vivid portrayal of the "furnace of hell" seems reminiscent of the descriptions in the last book of the Bible and of other literature of the period.
Some modern historical fiction writers mine a primitive and medieval use of that fire-y "hell" as a deliberate threat to maintain or establish ecclesiastical power. (I do not know how the truth of that can be ascertained but I guess, without a fear of hell, indulgences would not have sold, nor would there be prayers or Masses for the dead.) So also other writers bringing more modern "church" elements into their script, especially of individuals or groups who depend entirely on that classic Bible translation we call the King James Version. It is unfortunate that error or misrepresentation is always possible. We simply have to depend on the Holy Spirit working through the Bible, prayer and thought. Others may help (but not be depended on). A Google search for "hell" indicates 922,000,000 results, starting with Wikipedia!
Jesus said little about any kind of "hell", and that not to his surrounding "pagan" society, but to the followers of his ancestral religion. However, Jesus did certainly have more to say on ultimate consequences of choice made.
Go in through the narrow gate. The gate to destruction is wide, and the road that leads there is easy to follow. A lot of people go through that gate. But the gate to life is very narrow. The road that leads there is so hard to follow that only a few people find it. (Matthew 7:13-14, CEV). Could anyone think the road to destruction is something to take lightly? Who are the few? Why not choose life?
There is a special solemnity as well as promise in some words which come from well before the final phase in Jesus' life:
Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.
“Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.
“Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned (John 5:22-29, NIV). Jesus is The Judge, and everything (life) depends on hearing (heeding) him. The contrasts are: "life" and "condemnation". (The exit from the grave picture is striking, but hardly literal, then or now.)
Jesus was shockingly clear. Drastic action is asked of us, lest God...
“But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to fall away - it would be better for him if a heavy millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.
“And if your hand causes you to fall away, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and go to hell, the unquenchable fire.[a] And if your foot causes you to fall away, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and be thrown into hell.[b] And if your eye causes you to fall away, gouge it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched[c] (Mark 9:42-48, CSB). The picture is stark and absolutely unmistakable - but surely not simply literal. Life (and the kingdom) is promised to the person who will receive it! (Three times there the word "gehenna" is used.)
PLUS:
The "Jesus Account" very often mentions "heaven". In some instances, but not all, the idea is similar to the location (place) in the OT reference at the top of this post.
In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized in the Jordan by John. As soon as he came up out of the water, he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well-pleased” (Mark 1:9-11, CSB). Heavens were opened. A voice came from heaven.
Unsurprisingly, we find a report on this in John. And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him (John 1:32, NRSV). Not only Jesus saw what was to be seen coming down from "heaven" that day. From the observer's viewpoint, "descending" makes sense.
In Nazareth synagogue: “Certainly there were many needy widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the heavens were closed for three and a half years, and a severe famine devastated the land (Luke 4:25, NLT). The word “heaven” there is singular and is used of the weather, of the lack of rain (clouds), rather than of God. Some translations render simply as “no rain”. (Jesus was saying that God had withheld rain from his own people. Not only that, God sent Elijah to help an outsider!)
Matthew has Jesus referring to God's kindness in sun and rain as instructive: so that you may be[a] children of your Father in heaven. For he causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous (Matthew 5:45, CSB). Please God, send from heaven rain to this land.
The end times were part of Jesus’ message, including: Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father (Mark 13:31-32, NRSV). The one "heaven" word evidently is used here in two different ways; and so some translate the first as “the sky and the earth”. (The heaven of the angels can hardly be passing away.)
"Hell" and "heaven": We are looking at matters beyond human imagination. Jesus' community, like ours, held to ideas which may, or may not, hold up under examination!
My table below indicates how much emphasis Jesus evidently gave to these issues, in this form.
My previous post on "Heaven":
https://www.jesussaviour4unme.com/2017/11/heaven.html
Scripture quotations marked (CEV) are from the Contemporary English Version Copyright © 1991, 1992, 1995 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.
Scripture quotations marked (CSB) are from the Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission.
All rights reserved worldwide.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked (NRSV) are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Note: I retain in the publishers' text where they occur the references to footnotes, but usually not the notes. You can check footnotes out by viewing the text on-line. Often they are replicated in different translations.
Bible passages accessed via BibleGateway.com
Bible statistics calculated from blueletterbible.org
Image: "skeeze" on Pixabay
Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission.
All rights reserved worldwide.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked (NRSV) are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Note: I retain in the publishers' text where they occur the references to footnotes, but usually not the notes. You can check footnotes out by viewing the text on-line. Often they are replicated in different translations.
Bible passages accessed via BibleGateway.com
Bible statistics calculated from blueletterbible.org
Image: "skeeze" on Pixabay
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