The purpose of this section is to show that translators two hundred years before the Christian era considered the Greek word HADES to be the best translation for the Hebrew word SHEOL.

The Masoretic text was created around the sixth century A.D. by the Masoretes. The Masoretes supposedly replaced scribes who had been copying the original text for many successive generations and continued to preserve the scriptures for another five hundred years in a form known as the Masoretic Text. The KJV along with most of the newest bible versions have been translated from this Hebrew text.

The Septuagint is a Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures. It was supposedly created in Alexandria and is said to be the earliest known version that is extant. It is thought to have been created about three centuries before the Christian era.

Some of the articles I read on the subject of HELL mentioned that the Septuagint translators used the Greek word HADES for the Hebrew word SHEOL. The data in the first table below confirms the statements made by these authors. The second table shows the different spellings for SHEOL in Hebrew and for HADES in Greek. It is important to relize that the Septuagint translators did not translate from from the Masoretic text because it didn't exist until the sixth century A.D. If in the future I am able to find a copy of the Hebrew text that was used for the Septuagint translation, I will include it in the tables also. I used the The Septuagint with Apocrypha and Hatch and Redpath Concordance to the Septuagint to gather the data for these tables.
 
 

Comparison of the Masoretics SHEOL to the Septuagints HADES

Verse	Masoretic	Septuagint	KJV		Verse	Masoretic	Septuagint	KJV
Gen 37:45			grave		Psa 141:7			grave's
Gen 42:38			grave		Pro 1:12			grave
Gen 44:29			grave		Pro 5:5			hell
Gen 44:31			grave		Pro 7:27			hell
Num 16:30			pit		Pro 9:18			hell
Num 16:33			pit		Pro 14:12	------		------
Deu 32:22			hell		Pro 15:11			hell
1Sa 2:6			grave		Pro 15:24			hell
2Sa 22:6		------	hell		Pro 16:25	------		------
1Ki 2:6			grave		Pro 23:14		------	hell
1Ki 2:9			grave		Pro 24:51	------		------
Job 7:9		------	grave		Pro 27:20			hell
Job 11:8			hell		Pro 30:16		------	grave
Job 14:13			grave		Ecc 9:10			grave
Job 17:13			grave		Son 8:6			grave
Job 17:16			pit		Isa 5:14			hell
Job 21:13			grave		Isa 14:9			hell
Job 24:19		------	grave		Isa 14:11			grave
Job 26:6			hell		Isa 14:15			hell
Job 33:22	------		------		Isa 14:19	------		------
Job 38:17	------		------		Isa 28:15			hell
Psa 6:5			grave		Isa 28:18			hell
Psa 9:17			hell		Isa 38:10			grave
Psa 16:10			hell		Isa 38:18			grave
Psa 18:5			hell		Isa 38:18	------		grave
Psa 30:3			grave		Isa 57:9			hell
Psa 31:17			grave		Jer 41:5	------		------
Psa 49:14			grave		Eze 31:15			grave
Psa 49:14			grave		Eze 31:16			hell
Psa 49:15			grave		Eze 31:17			hell
Psa 55:15			hell		Eze 32:21		------	hell
Psa 86:13			hell		Eze 32:27			hell
Psa 88:3			grave		Hos 13:14			grave
Psa 89:48			grave		Hos 13:14			grave
Psa 115:17	------		------		Amo 9:2			hell
Psa 116:3			hell		Jon 2:2			hell
Psa 139:8			hell		Hab 2:5			hell

Different Spellings of SHEOL and HADES

SHEOL Masoretic Text - (Hebrew)	HADES Septuagint Text - (Greek)

  Introduction |  Actual Photos of Hell  | Tentmaker Blog | Burning questions: What the hell is Hell?  
 | What about evil? | Books on Hell | Articles on Hell
Hell's Encyclopedia | Scholar's Corner | Exploring Hell (SEARCH)
Hell Raiser's Links | Hell's Poetry | Dispelling the Darkness

Tentmaker Resources: Our Online Store

Tentmaker Sitemap

Site Credits

E-mail Us

© 2009 By  Tentmaker Ministries. All rights reserved.