Hades, Sheol, Hell, Heaven, Paradise and More

Ever get confused over words like Hades, Sheol, paradise, and New Jerusalem?

Let’s clear up the confusion and make sense of where people will spend the afterlife. We’ll look first at neutral names for the realm of the dead. Then we’ll dive into designations for the places we don’t want to go. Finally, we’ll tackle the titles for the spaces of bliss.

Words Describing the Realm of the Dead

These words can mean simply the realm of the dead; that is, the place where a person’s spirit resides until the resurrection. The following verse explains what happens when the physical body dies:

The dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

Ecclesiastes 12:7

The Jews thought this realm was a place where spirits awaited the resurrection of their bodies, with a separation between the spirits of the righteous and the spirits of the wicked. Unfortunately, some translations (such as the King James Version) translate the words below as “hell,” causing confusion as to whether the righteous and even Jesus tarried in hell.

Sheol

In the Old Testament, Sheol refers to the realm of the dead, death, grave, or depths.¹

I shall ransom them from the power of Sheol; I shall redeem them from Death. O Death, where are your plagues? O Sheol, where is your sting?

Hosea 13:14

Abaddon

Abaddon means destruction or death. It’s often another name for the realm of the dead.²

Sheol and Abaddon lie open before the Lord; how much more the hearts of the children of man!

Proverbs 15:11

The word is used only once in the New Testament. There it’s the name of “the angel of the bottomless pit” (Revelation 9:11).

Hades

Hades is the realm of the dead in the New Testament. When the New Testament quotes the Old Testament, it translates Sheol as Hades.³

For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption.

Acts 2:27

Words Describing Places of Punishment

There are current places of punishment where the wicked abide until the Judgment. After the Judgment, residents move to the final place of punishment.

The Current State of Hell

Hades

Sometimes Hades refers more specifically to the current place of punishment within the realm of the dead. For example, in the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, the rich man recognizes Abraham and Lazarus and asks Abraham to send Lazarus to him with water. But Abraham says there is a great chasm between the two parts of the realm of the dead that no one can traverse.

The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.

Luke 16:22–23

At other times, Hades refers to the final state of hell.⁴

And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.

Matthew 11:23

The Current Place of Imprisonment

Some fallen angels are described as imprisoned.

Abyss

The abyss is a place of imprisonment for demons. (In Romans 10:7, however, it’s another name for the current realm of the dead. Terms sometimes overlap.)⁵

And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss.

Luke 8:31

Tartarus

Tartarus is used only once in the New Testament. Although it’s translated “hell,” it speaks of a place of imprisonment for fallen angels.⁶

For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell [tartarus] and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment.

2 Peter 2:4

The Final State of Hell

Unbelievers will come before the Judgment Seat in either their disembodied state or reunited with their old bodies (reanimated rather than resurrected in the full New Testament sense). They will be judged and then confined to an eternity away from God’s presence.⁷

Hell (Gehenna)

The name Gehenna comes from the Valley of Hinnom, where apostate Jews offered human sacrifices. Jesus equates it with the final state of hell. In the verse below, Gehenna is translated “hell.”⁸

“And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’”

Mark 9:47–48

Lake of Fire

This is synonymous with hell. It’s the final abode of the devil, the fallen angels, unbelievers, Death, and Hades.⁹

And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Revelation 20:10

In this next passage, “the dead” refers to humans.

And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Revelation 20:13–15

Death and Hades will have served their purpose, and so will enter hell.¹⁰

Words Describing Places of Comfort

When the physical bodies of saints die, their spirits go to a place of comfort within the realm of the dead. It goes by several names, including heaven. But the word heaven has five meanings in the Bible, three of which are unrelated to a place of comfort. Let’s look at these first.

Meanings of the Word “Heaven” Unrelated to Places of Comfort

Sky

In Jewish writings, the sky is called heaven or the first heaven. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.

James 5:18

Physical Cosmos

The physical cosmos is called heaven or the second heaven. It contains the stars and planets.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1:1

Figure of Speech for “God”

Heaven is often used as a substitution for “God” (a figure of speech known as metonymy). Thus, “kingdom of heaven” is synonymous with “kingdom of God.”

“Was the baptism of John from heaven or from man? Answer me.”

Mark 11:30

Sometimes kingdom of heaven refers to God’s current rule in believers’ hearts on earth.¹¹

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind.

Matthew 13:47

With those meanings of heaven out of the way, let’s turn to words describing the current place of comfort.

The Current State of Heaven

Heaven, Third Heaven

The fourth meaning of the word heaven is the unseen spiritual realmwhere God’s throne and celestial beings reside. This is sometimes called the third heaven.

I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows.

2 Corinthians 12:2

Paradise

Paradise is synonymous with third heaven, as can be seen by the verse following the last quoted.

And I know that this man was caught up into paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows

2 Corinthians 12:3

Jesus told the thief on the cross that he would take him to paradise that day (Luke 23:43).

Abraham’s Bosom

In the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, angels carry Lazarus’s spirit to Abraham’s side (or bosom). This is synonymous with paradise and third heaven. A great chasm exists between the current state of hell and the current state of heaven such that no one can cross from one to the other (Luke 16:26).

The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side.

Luke 16:22–23

At Home with the Lord

Paul describes the current place of comfort as being away from the body but at home with Jesus.

So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

2 Corinthians 5:6–8

The Book of Revelation shows the current place of comfort as being in God’s presence. John writes:

After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne.

Revelation 4:1-2

While in the current state of heaven, John sees this:

I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne.

Revelation 6:9

The Final State of Heaven

God will resurrect the bodies of the spirits of those whose names are written in the Book of Life. The resurrected bodies will be glorious, immortal, and powerful. God will create or renew the heavens and the earth. Then believers will dwell with the Lamb and God in the new heavens and earth.

Heaven

The fifth meaning of the word heaven is the final dwelling place of those who worship God. It is where believers receive their inheritance and rewards.

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

Matthew 6:19–20

Heavenly Country

Hebrews calls our final abode a better, heavenly country.

But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

Hebrews 11:16

New Heaven and Earth, Holy City, New Jerusalem

The book of Revelation expands on believers’ final dwelling place as being in the new heaven and earth.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Revelation 21:1–4

Scholars differ as to whether the new Jerusalem refers to a place, a people, or both.¹²

In Summary

So there it is. Sheol and Hades are the main names in the Bible for the realm of the dead. Sometimes Hades describes the part of the realm of the dead where the wicked reside, known as the current state of hell, and sometimes it’s synonymous with the final state of hell. The final state of hell is called both hell and the lake of fire. The current state of heaven is called heaven, Paradise, and Abraham’s Bosom. The final state of heaven is called heaven, the new heaven and earth, the Holy City, and (perhaps) the new Jerusalem.

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• Immortal: How the Fear of Death Drives Us and What to Do About It by Clay Jones
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• Glimpsing the Future: New Testament Perspectives on Death, Resurrection, Immortality, Eternity, and the Afterlife by Murray J. Harris

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1. Warren Baker and Eugene E. Carpenter, The Complete Word Study Dictionary: Old Testament (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2003), s.v. “H7585.”
2. Ibid., s.v. “H11.”
3. Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2000), s.v. “G86.”
4. As D. A. Carson wrote, “Gehenna and Hades… are often thought to refer, respectively, to eternal hell and the abode of the dead in the intermediate state. But the distinction can be maintained in few passages. More commonly, the two terms are synonymous and mean ‘hell.’” D. A. Carson, Matthew (The Expositor’s Bible Commentary), revised ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2010), Kindle Edition, 375.
5. Joachim Jeremias, “Ἄβυσσος,” in Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, ed. Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey W. Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1964–), 9.
6. Alan W. Gomes wrote, “In nonbiblical literature, Tartarus designates a place of punishment after death…. Peter is not endorsing extrabiblical Greek or Jewish speculations about the afterlife generally…. Rather, he simply ‘desired to communicate with his readers in terms of their own idiom,’ granting that this word generally suited his purpose for conveying the concept he elaborates in this context.” Alan W. Gomes, 40 Questions About Heaven and Hell (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 2018), 76.
7. Murray J. Harris notes that those Jesus raised from the dead were reanimated, not resurrected in the full New Testament sense of the word. He writes, “The unrighteous dead will ‘rise up’ and appear before God, either as disembodied spirits or in some undisclosed bodily form, and will be assessed on two bases: their relationship to Christ (Matt 7: 22– 23; 10: 32– 33; Mark 8: 38; John 3: 36; 2   Thess 1: 8– 9) and their works (Rom 2: 6; 1   Pet 1: 17; Rev 20: 12– 13).”  Murray J. Harris, Glimpsing the Future: New Testament Perspectives on Death, Resurrection, Immortality, Eternity, and the Afterlife, Kindle ed.(Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2024), 107.
8. Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2000), s.v. “G1067.”
9. Gomes writes, “Jesus makes plain that gehenna [hell] is a place of embodied punishment for wicked human beings… This shows that gehenna is the final place of punishment for the wicked, occurring after the resurrection that takes place at the last judgment. Consequently, it is equivalent to ‘the lake of fire’ mentioned in Revelation 19 and 20.” Gomes,  75.
10. Commenting on Revelation 20:14, Grant R. Osborne wrote, “The ‘Sea’ and ‘Death and Hades’ are virtual synonyms in the book, both personifications of the realm of evil.” Grant R. Osborne, Revelation (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament): Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2002), 722.
11. Zodhiates, s.v. “G3772.”
12. As Grant Osborne put it: “Is the New Jerusalem the place in which the saints reside, or is it a symbol of the saints themselves? Thusing (1968) says it is not so much a place as the perfected people themselves, and Gundry (1987: 256) argues strongly that ‘John is not describing the eternal dwelling place of the saints; he is describing them and them alone.’ Thus it describes their future state rather than their future home (see also Draper 1988: 42). Mounce (1998: 382) connects this with 1 Cor. 3:16-17, where the believers are the temple of God; here they are the city of God, visualizing ‘the church in its perfected and eternal state.’ Yet while it is possible that John transformed the Jewish tradition of an end-time New Jerusalem into a symbol of the people themselves, that is not required by the text… Babylon was both a people and a place, and that is the better answer here. In short, it represents heaven as both the saints who inhabit it and their dwelling place.” Grant R. Osborne, Revelation, BECNT (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2002), 733.