Hell and the Lake of Fire
Compiled by WD Kemner July 2025
In the Study on Death and the Grave, we show that the word “Grave” was used to refer to the physical location that a dead body was placed in on the earth. This is in a place that can be seen with the eye. The word “Grave” was also used to refer to the “Underworld”, a place that cannot be seen with the eye. This study will focus on the Underworld and its several compartments.
Location of the Underworld
Location is within the center of Earth. This is very obvious after reviewing the following Scriptures:
Matthew 12:40 “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
Ephesians 4:9 uses phrase “lower parts of the earth”.
Isaiah 14:9 “Hell from beneath…”
The Spirit World chart (1915) by Clarence Larkin (Public Domain)
Underworld in Scripture
THREE words used in Old Testament
The Hebrew words that are used in the Old Testament:
Destruction (used in six verses)- translated from Hebrew: “abaddown”; ab-ad-done; defined as a perishing: Hades.
used when referencing “the PIT”.
Hell – translated from Hebrew: “sheol” sheh-ole ; defined as; Hades or the world of the dead (as if a subterranean retreat), includes it’s accessories and inmates: hell, pit.
Grave – has also been translated from Hebrew: “sheol” used for burial place of the physical body. The places that can be seen with the eye. See the separate study on DEATH and GRAVE.
This can cause some confusion to the general reader. The word “Hell” is used in both Old and New Testaments. The word “Grave” in Old Testament was used to mean both the burial place and “Paradise”. PRIOR to the death of Christ these words were often a “catch all” for both the “seen and unseen” to the eye.
FIVE locations defined in New Testament
Location called: TARTARUS
Special prison for the fallen angels. No humans or demons.
2 Peter 2:4; Angels that sinned.
“For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;”
“hell” is the word “tartaroo”; tar-tar-o-o, comes from Tartaros (The deepest abyss of Hades); to incarcerate in eternal torment. Cast down to Hell.
1 Peter 3:19-20; Jesus visited and preached to the “spirits” during time in tomb.
“By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.”
“spirits” = angels
Jude 6-7 fallen angels of Genesis
“And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.”
Location called: BOTTOMLESS PIT / ABYSS
Always referred to as a Prison for demons. Will be used as a “holding cell” for Satan for a period of a thousand years.
Old Testament scripture referring to the “pit”
(with the word definitions documented earlier)
PIT = Translated using the Hebrew word “Shoel”: just three times = Numbers 16:30, 33; Job 17:16
Otherwise translated Hell or Destruction
Both “Hell” and “Destruction” used within the same verse. They must be two separate places.
Both “Death” and “Destruction” used within the same verse. They must then be two separate entities.
Job 26:6 “Hell is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering.”
Job 28:22 “Destruction and death say, We have heard the fame thereof with our ears.”
A verse showing “Death” to be considered a “physical” entity.
Job 31:12 “For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase.”
Psalms 88:11 “Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction?”
Proverbs 15:11 “Hell and destruction are before the LORD: how much more then the hearts of the children of men?”
Proverbs 27:20 “Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.”
New Testament Word referring to the “pit”:
“Abussos”; Ab-us-sos; an Abyss of an unmeasurable depth
Translated as “deep” in Romans 10:6-7 “But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)”
Translated as “Bottomless” (bottomless pit) in Revelation
Revelation 9:1-3 “And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
Star falls from Heaven opening the Bottomless Pit. An angel with the “authority” to have the key to the “Abyss” or “Bottomless Pit”. Same angel will have the key when Satan is locked up in Revelation 20:1.
The opening of the pit will cause smoke to rise from Pit causing darkening of the sun and the air
Revelation 9:11-12 “And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon. One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.”
This “pit” has an “angel” in charge! King of the Bottomless Pit is in charge of the “locusts”. He is an angel named Abaddon in Hebrew and Apollyon in Greek.
Revelation 11:7 “And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.”
Revelation 13:11 “And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.”
Reference to the Pit
Revelation 17:8
The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit,…”
Revelation 20:1-3 “And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, … till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.”
This is the same angel from Revelation 9:1. Satan is cast into the bottomless pit for a “little season”.
Location called: PARADISE / Abraham’s Bosom
This is currently now empty!
“paradise” comes from the word: paradeisos; par-ad-i-sos; a place of future happiness, a paradise.
Prior to the Resurrection of Christ and the FIRST RESURRECTION all the Righteous went here at death.
Luke 23:43 Christ and the thief came here upon death.
“And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.”
Ephesians 4:8-10 “Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)”
This is the fulfillment of Psalms 68:18 when He led those in “captivity” out. They were now HIS Captives. These were all the righteous souls from Abel to Christ that had died and were being held by Satan.
Hebrews 2:14-15 “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
This verse tells us why Jesus delivered them that were in bondage.
Rich Man and Lazarus
Passage identifies both Hell and Paradise
There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.
Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.
Location called: HELL
Still is and will be abode of wicked
from time of Adam through to the end of the Millenium.
Luke 16:19-31 Location of the Rich Man’s torment (vs 23) in story of Rich Man and Lazarus.
“hades” hah-dace; defined as the place or (state) of departed souls: grave, hell
Matthew 16:18 “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
Jesus makes this statement to Peter in response to Peter’s insight two verses earlier (Matthew 16:16). Peter was just a fragment of the rock that the “church of believers” would be built upon. Jesus was referring to himself. He would shortly die and would visit Hell and remove the “keys to the gate”. See Revelation 1:18.
Revelation 1:18 “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.”
Matthew 11:23 (Parallel Luke 10:15) “And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.”
Acts 2:27,31 “Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.”; “He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.”
Revelation 6:7-8 SEAL#4 of 7 of the Tribulation Period: The PALE HORSE: Rider named Death (“pale as death”) and Hell followed with him.
“And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.”
Death and Hell are Physical/Spiritual Beings. They will be cast into the lake of fire Revelation 20:10-15 and join: Antichrist, False Prophet, Satan.
Those that were in here (HELL) WILL get immortal bodies before facing Great White Throne Judgment and Lake of Fire.
Revelation 20:10-15 Mentions both Hell and Lake of Fire
“And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”
Location called: LAKE OF FIRE
Everlasting Punishment
Translators used the word “Hell”; but the original word is “geenna”; pronounced gheh-en-nah.
Defined as; valley of (the son of) Hinnom; gehenna, a valley of Jerusalem; used figuratively as a name for the place of everlasting punishment.
Called the “second death” in Revelation 2:11 and 20:6. Everlasting punishment will be in the Lake of Fire, as seen from these scriptures.
Matthew 5:22 “…but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.”
Parallel scriptures in Mark 9:43,45,47
Matthew 5:29, 30 “…and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell”
Matthew 18:9 “…than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.”
Matthew 10:28 (Parallel: Luke 12:5) “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
Matthew 23:15, 33 “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.” “Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?”
Matthew 25:41,46 “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels… And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.”
It was prepared for Devil and his angels.
James 3:6“And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.”
Revelation 20:10 “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”
SATAN IS NOW CAST INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE to join the Antichrist and the False Prophet.
Revelation 20:12-15
“And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”
Those found guilty are cast into the lake of fire to keep company with: Antichrist, False Prophet, Satan, Death and Hell for Eternity.
Revelation 21:8 “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”
REWARDS in both HELL and HEAVEN.
Degrees of Reward in Heaven
Even the Smallest service to others: Matthew 10:41-42
Every man according to his works: Matthew 16:27
Receive for what has been done in the body 2 Corinthians 5:10-11
Every man receives according to his work: Revelation 22:12
Degrees of Reward in Hell
Some will receive greater damnation Matthew 23:14-15; Mark 12:40
Degrees of Punishment (more tolerable for some) Matthew 10:15; 11:22; 12:41; Mark 6:11; Luke 10:14
For Additional Study. See the topic studies on:
HEAVENS and DEATH and the GRAVE.