Sheol, Hades, Gehenna, Tartarus
In EnglishFour words English renders as “hell”
Hebrew and Greek. Explained in a Kingdom Code essay.
Side by side
- HebrewSheol
The land of the dead.
- GreekHades
The Septuagint’s word for Sheol.
- GreekGehenna
One of four terms English renders with the same word.
- GreekTartarus
Appears once, as a verb, in 2 Peter 2:4: a holding cell for the sinning angels.
How Kingdom Code explains it
Tartarus shows up exactly once, as a verb, when Peter says God cast the sinning angels down to hold them for judgment (2 Peter 2:4). He borrowed the word from Greek myth to describe a holding cell, not a headquarters.
Hades, in Greek, is what the Septuagint uses to translate Sheol. Same idea in a new language. The land of the dead, not a torture chamber with a warden.
English translators then used that single inherited word for Sheol, Hades, Gehenna, and Peter’s verb tartaroō. Four biblical terms entered the English imagination wearing the same name.
From “Do You Actually Know What the Bible”, Patreon, 17 Jun 2026
In the dictionary
- שְׁאוֹלsheolH7585
hell: Sheol
Full entry
Sheol, underworld, grave, hell, pit
1a) the underworld
1b) Sheol-the OT designation for the abode of the dead
1b1) place of no return
1b2) without praise of God
1b3) wicked sent there for punishment
1b4) righteous not abandoned to it
1b5) of the place of exile (fig)
1b6) of extreme degradation in sin
- ᾍδηςHadēsG86
hell: Hades
Full entry
ᾅδης, -ου, ὁ
[in LXX chiefly for שְׁאוֹל, also for דּוּמָה, מָוֶת, etc. ;]
1. in Hom., Hades (Pluto), the god of the underworld.
2. the abode of Hades, the underworld; in NT, the abode of departed spirits, Hades: ἐν τ. ᾅ., Luk.16:23; εἰς ᾅ., Act.2:27,31; πύλαι ᾅδου, Mat.16:18; κλεῖς τοῦ ᾅ., Rev.1:18; metaphorically, ἕως ᾅ., Mat.11:23, Luk.10:15; personified, Rev.6:8 20:13,14 (Cremer, 67, 610; MM, VGT, see word).
† (AS)
- γέενναgeennaG1067
hell: Gehenna
Full entry
γέεννα (γέενα, Mrk.9:45, Rec.), -ης, ἡ (perh. through Aram. גֵּיהִנָּם, from Heb. גֵּי הִנֹּם, Neh.11:30; גֵּי בֶּן־הִנֹּם, Jhn.18:16; גֵּי בּנֵי־הִנֹּם, 4Ki.23:10; valley of (the son, sons of) lamentation);
[in LXX the nearest approach to γ. is γαίεννα, Jos.18:16 (Γαὶ Ὀννόμ, A), elsewhere φάραγξ Ὀνόμ (Jos.15:8, al.), V. Swete on Mrk.9:43 ;]
Gehenna, a valley W. and S. of Jerusalem, which as the site of fire-worship from the time of Ahaz, was desecrated by Josiah and became a dumping-place for the offal of the city. Later, the name was used as a symbol of the place of future punishment, as in NT: Mat.5:29, ; 10:28, Mrk.9:43, 45 47, Luk.12:5, Jas.3:6; γ. τ. πυρός, Mat.5:22 18:19, prob. with ref. to fires of Moloch (DB, ii, 119b); υἱὸς γεέννης, Mat.23:15; κρίσις γεέννης, 23:33.†
(AS)
- ταρταρόωtartaroōG5020
hell: Tartarus
Full entry
ταρταρόω, -ῶ
(Τάρταρος, a Greek name for the underworld, esp. the abode of the damned),
to cast into hell: 2Pe.2:4 (see Mayor, in l).†
(AS)
Verses
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, Berean Literal Bible