Sheol

For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.

(Psalms 16:10) ESV

Sheol refers to life beyond the grave, quite literally an underworld realm of the dead. It’s also modified in a variety of ways which can be grouped to correspond to the regions of the interior of the Earth.

If you’re familiar with older translations like the King James then it’s what you find there translated as hell.

For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

(Psalms 16:10) KJV

Hell and sheol are the same thing. Newer translations, like the English Standard Version, stay away from using the word hell out of deference to current theories about the internal structure of the Earth. You’re probably well aware that current mainstream beliefs about the interior of the Earth don’t include hell.

Sheol Modifiers

Zone	Usage	.. sheol ..
CRUST	The grave	sheol
MANTLE	The belly of hell	mibbeten sheol
	The midst of hell	tavek sheol
GREAT GULF	The bars of the pit (pillars of the earth)	bad sheol
CORE	Hell below	sheol tachath
	Lowest hell	sheol tachti

That’s unfortunate because even though current theories are a valid interpretation of the available data, they’re not the only valid interpretation of the data. It’s possible to use all existing physical evidence, empirical observations and experimental findings to show that hell is indeed in the center of the Earth.

Sheol is far more than just the grave. It’s modified in ways which are very similar to the ways that erets is modified to describe regions of the interior of the Earth, so much so that the two are harmonious in describing four regions, or levels, which are synonymous with the internal zones of the Earth. The levels of hell are the regions of the interior of the Earth, they’re successively worse torments for successively worse sinners.

The Levels of Hell

Level	Grave (sheol) Pit (sahat/bowr)	Earth (erets)	World (tebel)
Crust	sheol	erets	tebel
Mantle	mibbeten sheol tavek sheol yerekah bowr	tachti erets erets tachti	mowcadah tebel
Great Gulf (outer core)	bad sheol	erets beriach matsuq erets mayim tachath erets
Core (inner core)	sheol tachti tachti erets bowr, shachath missahat beli	mowcadar erets