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Hebrew proper noun (a place) · H7585

שְׁאוֹל

sheolsheh-ole'

hell: Sheol

66 uses in the Hebrew text, one for each word STEP Bible has tagged with this key

Concordance spelling: shᵉʼôwl

Word page · Part of the concordance, one page for every word of the Hebrew and Greek text. Strong's H7585is this word's number in James Strong's 1890 index of the King James Bible.

  • 17 of 39
    Old Testament books
  • 34
    spellings

The definition in full

Strong's key (1890) · H7585

Hades or the world of the dead (as if a subterranean retreat), including its accessories and inmates

The King James renders it: grave, hell, pit.

James Strong, The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890), public domain. Strong indexed the King James text, and this site quotes his entry as that index.

Summary

sheol is rendered "hell: Sheol". It stands 66 times in the Hebrew text, across seventeen books.

  • Sixteen of the uses stand in Psalms, more than in any other book.
  • Its first use in canonical order opens the ledger below.Genesis 37:35All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said. “I will go down to Sheol mourning for my son.” So his father wept for him.
  • The Greek text spells it thirty-four different ways.

The first use

All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said. “I will go down to Sheol mourning for my son.” So his father wept for him.

Genesis 37:35שְׁאֹ֑לָה

The first use, in the order of the Old Testament's books.

Where the word stands

The word stands in seventeen of the 39 Old Testament books.

The other 22 Old Testament books never use the word.

What the word means

Each meaning, and the words it is translated by

How the Greek text is glossed, word by word

  • Sheol40
  • Sheol towards9
  • in Sheol4
  • from Sheol3
  • like Sheol3
  • to Sheol3
  • for Sheol1
  • more than Sheol1
  • O Sheol1
  • to Sheol towards1

The words built on the same word-part

Each word below begins with the same letters this one begins with. A shared word-part shows a family. It does not settle what any one of them means, so each word carries its own uses on its own page. Scholars call that shared part the stem.

שְׁאֵרִיתsheerithremnantUses66
שְׁאָרshearremnantUses26
שְׁאֵרsheerfleshUses16
שְׁאֵלָהsheelahpetitionUses14
שְׁאָרshearremainderUses12
שְׁאָגָהsheagahroaringUses7
שְׁאֵלsheelto askUses6
שְׁאָטsheatscornUses3
שְׁאֵלָאsheelaaffairUses1
שְׁאִיָּהsheiahruinUses1

The words it stands beside

All 66, in canonical order

Every use, in order

Every use, grouped by book, with its verse.

34 spellings and their grammar

STEP Bible tags every word of the Hebrew and Greek text with its spelling and its grammar. Both lists below count the rows printed underneath, written out in English, with the code beside each one as it was tagged.

How it is spelled

  • שְׁא֣וֹל15
  • שְׁא֖וֹל5
  • שְׁא֛וֹל4
  • מִשְּׁא֥וֹל3
  • שְׁאֽוֹל׃3
  • שְׁאֹ֑לָה3
  • שְׁא֗וֹל2
  • שְׁא֑וֹל2
  • שְׁ֝א֗וֹל2
  • שְׁא֖וֹלָה2
  • שְׁאֹֽלָה׃2
  • בִשְׁא֔וֹל1

and 22 more spellings in the ledger below.

The grammar of each form

  • noun · masculine or feminine singular40HNcbsa
  • preposition + noun · masculine or feminine singular15HR/Ncbsa
  • noun · masculine or feminine singular + directional ending (“toward”)9HNcbsa/Sd
  • noun · masculine or feminine singular · in construct (“…of”)1HNcbsc
  • preposition + noun · masculine or feminine singular + directional ending (“toward”)1HR/Ncbsa/Sd

Genesis

four uses
  • All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said. “I will go down to Sheol mourning for my son.” So his father wept for him.

    Genesis 37:35

    • שְׁאֹ֑לָהsheolahnoun · masculine or feminine singular + directional ending (“toward”)tagged: Sheol towards
  • But Jacob replied, “My son will not go down there with you, for his brother is dead, and he alone is left. If any harm comes to him on your journey, you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.”

    Genesis 42:38

    • שְׁאֽוֹלָה׃sheolahnoun · masculine or feminine singular + directional ending (“toward”)tagged: Sheol towards
  • Now if you also take this one from me and harm comes to him, you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.’

    Genesis 44:29

    • שְׁאֹֽלָה׃sheolahnoun · masculine or feminine singular + directional ending (“toward”)tagged: Sheol towards
  • sees that the boy is not with us, he will die. Then your servants will have brought the gray hair of your servant our father down to Sheol in sorrow.

    Genesis 44:31

    • שְׁאֹֽלָה׃sheolahnoun · masculine or feminine singular + directional ending (“toward”)tagged: Sheol towards

Numbers

two uses
  • But if the LORD brings about something unprecedented, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them and all that belongs to them so that they go down alive into Sheol, then you will know that these men have treated the LORD with contempt.”

    Numbers 16:30

    • שְׁאֹ֑לָהsheolahnoun · masculine or feminine singular + directional ending (“toward”)tagged: Sheol towards
  • They went down alive into Sheol with all they owned. The earth closed over them, and they vanished from the assembly.

    Numbers 16:33

    • שְׁאֹ֑לָהsheolahnoun · masculine or feminine singular + directional ending (“toward”)tagged: Sheol towards

Deuteronomy

one use
  • For a fire has been kindled by My anger, and it burns to the depths of Sheol; it consumes the earth and its produce, and scorches the foundations of the mountains.

    Deuteronomy 32:22

    • שְׁא֣וֹלsheolnoun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: Sheol

1 Samuel

one use
  • The LORD brings death and gives life; He brings down to Sheol and raises up.

    1 Samuel 2:6

    • שְׁא֖וֹלsheolnoun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: Sheol

2 Samuel

one use
  • The cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me.

    2 Samuel 22:6

    • שְׁא֖וֹלsheolnoun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: Sheol

1 Kings

two uses
  • So act according to your wisdom, and do not let his gray head go down to Sheol in peace.

    1 Kings 2:6

    • שְׁאֹֽל׃ סsheolnoun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: Sheol
  • Now therefore, do not hold him guiltless, for you are a wise man. You know what you ought to do to him to bring his gray head down to Sheol in blood.”

    1 Kings 2:9

    • שְׁאֽוֹל׃sheolnoun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: Sheol

Job

eight uses
  • As a cloud vanishes and is gone, so he who goes down to Sheol does not come back up.

    Job 7:9

    • שְׁ֝א֗וֹלsheolnoun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: Sheol
  • They are higher than the heavens—what can you do? They are deeper than Sheol—what can you know?

    Job 11:8

    • מִ֝שְּׁא֗וֹלmisheolpreposition + noun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: more than Sheol
  • If only You would hide me in Sheol and conceal me until Your anger has passed! If only You would appoint a time for me and then remember me!

    Job 14:13

    • בִּשְׁא֬וֹלbisholpreposition + noun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: in Sheol
  • If I look for Sheol as my home, if I spread out my bed in darkness,

    Job 17:13

    • שְׁא֣וֹלsheolnoun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: Sheol
  • Will it go down to the gates of Sheol? Will we go down together into the dust?”

    Job 17:16

    • שְׁאֹ֣לsheolnoun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: Sheol
  • They spend their days in prosperity and go down to Sheol in peace.

    Job 21:13

    • שְׁא֣וֹלsheolnoun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: Sheol
  • As drought and heat consume the melting snow, so Sheol steals those who have sinned.

    Job 24:19

    • שְׁא֣וֹלsheolnoun · masculine or feminine singular · in construct (“…of”)tagged: Sheol
  • Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon has no covering.

    Job 26:6

    • שְׁא֣וֹלsheolnoun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: Sheol

Psalms

sixteen uses
  • For there is no mention of You in death; who can praise You from Sheol?

    Psalms 6:5

    • בִּ֝שְׁא֗וֹלbisholpreposition + noun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: in Sheol
  • The wicked will return to Sheol— all the nations who forget God.

    Psalms 9:17

    • לִשְׁא֑וֹלָהlisholahpreposition + noun · masculine or feminine singular + directional ending (“toward”)tagged: to Sheol towards
  • For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol, nor will You let Your Holy One see decay.

    Psalms 16:10

    • לִשְׁא֑וֹלlisholpreposition + noun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: to Sheol
  • The cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me.

    Psalms 18:5

    • שְׁא֣וֹלsheolnoun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: Sheol
  • O LORD, You pulled me up from Sheol; You spared me from descending into the Pit.

    Psalms 30:3

    • שְׁא֣וֹלsheolnoun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: Sheol
  • O LORD, let me not be ashamed, for I have called on You. Let the wicked be put to shame; let them lie silent in Sheol.

    Psalms 31:17

    • לִשְׁאֽוֹל׃lisholpreposition + noun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: to Sheol
  • Like sheep they are destined for Sheol. Death will be their shepherd. The upright will rule them in the morning, and their form will decay in Sheol, far from their lofty abode.

    Psalms 49:14

    • לִֽשְׁא֣וֹלlisholpreposition + noun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: for Sheol
    • שְׁא֗וֹלsheolnoun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: Sheol
  • But God will redeem my life from Sheol, for He will surely take me to Himself. Selah

    Psalms 49:15

    • שְׁא֑וֹלsheolnoun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: Sheol
  • Let death seize them by surprise; let them go down to Sheol alive, for evil is with them in their homes.

    Psalms 55:15

    • שְׁא֣וֹלsheolnoun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: Sheol
  • For great is Your loving devotion to me; You have delivered me from the depths of Sheol.

    Psalms 86:13

    • מִשְּׁא֥וֹלmisheolpreposition + noun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: from Sheol
  • For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol.

    Psalms 88:3

    • לִשְׁא֥וֹלlisholpreposition + noun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: to Sheol
  • What man can live and never see death? Can he deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah

    Psalms 89:48

    • שְׁא֣וֹלsheolnoun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: Sheol
  • The ropes of death entangled me; the anguish of Sheol overcame me; I was confronted by trouble and sorrow.

    Psalms 116:3

    • שְׁא֣וֹלsheolnoun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: Sheol
  • If I ascend to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there.

    Psalms 139:8

    • שְּׁא֣וֹלsheolnoun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: Sheol
  • As when one plows and breaks up the soil, so our bones have been scattered at the mouth of Sheol.

    Psalms 141:7

    • שְׁאֽוֹל׃sheolnoun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: Sheol

Proverbs

nine uses
  • let us swallow them alive like Sheol, and whole like those descending into the Pit.

    Proverbs 1:12

    • כִּשְׁא֣וֹלkisholpreposition + noun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: like Sheol
  • Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to Sheol.

    Proverbs 5:5

    • שְׁ֝א֗וֹלsheolnoun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: Sheol
  • Her house is the road to Sheol, descending to the chambers of death.

    Proverbs 7:27

    • שְׁא֣וֹלsheolnoun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: Sheol
  • But they do not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

    Proverbs 9:18

    • שְׁא֣וֹלsheolnoun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: Sheol
  • Sheol and Abaddon lie open before the LORD—how much more the hearts of men!

    Proverbs 15:11

    • שְׁא֣וֹלsheolnoun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: Sheol
  • The path of life leads upward for the wise, that he may avoid going down to Sheol.

    Proverbs 15:24

    • מִשְּׁא֥וֹלmisheolpreposition + noun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: from Sheol
  • Strike him with a rod, and you will deliver his soul from Sheol.

    Proverbs 23:14

    • מִשְּׁא֥וֹלmisheolpreposition + noun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: from Sheol
  • Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.

    Proverbs 27:20

    • שְׁא֣וֹלsheolnoun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: Sheol
  • Sheol, the barren womb, land never satisfied with water, and fire that never says, ‘Enough!’

    Proverbs 30:16

    • שְׁאוֹל֮sheolnoun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: Sheol

Ecclesiastes

one use
  • Whatever you find to do with your hands, do it with all your might, for in Sheol, where you are going, there is no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom.

    Ecclesiastes 9:10

    • בִּשְׁא֕וֹלbisholpreposition + noun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: in Sheol

Song of Solomon

one use
  • Set me as a seal over your heart, as a seal upon your arm. For love is as strong as death, its jealousy as unrelenting as Sheol. Its sparks are fiery flames, the fiercest blaze of all.

    Song of Solomon 8:6

    • כִשְׁא֖וֹלkhisholpreposition + noun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: like Sheol

Isaiah

ten uses
  • Therefore Sheol enlarges its throat and opens wide its enormous jaws, and down go Zion’s nobles and masses, her revelers and carousers!

    Isaiah 5:14

    • שְּׁאוֹל֙sheolnoun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: Sheol
  • “Ask for a sign from the LORD your God, whether from the depths of Sheol or the heights of heaven.”

    Isaiah 7:11

    • שְׁאָ֔לָהshealahnoun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: Sheol
  • Sheol beneath is eager to meet you upon your arrival. It stirs the spirits of the dead to greet you—all the rulers of the earth. It makes all the kings of the nations rise from their thrones.

    Isaiah 14:9

    • שְׁא֗וֹלsheolnoun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: Sheol
  • Your pomp has been brought down to Sheol, along with the music of your harps. Maggots are your bed and worms your blanket.

    Isaiah 14:11

    • שְׁא֛וֹלsheolnoun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: Sheol
  • But you will be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit.

    Isaiah 14:15

    • שְׁא֛וֹלsheolnoun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: Sheol
  • For you said, “We have made a covenant with death; we have fashioned an agreement with Sheol. When the overwhelming scourge passes through it will not touch us, because we have made lies our refuge and falsehood our hiding place.”

    Isaiah 28:15

    • שְׁא֖וֹלsheolnoun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: Sheol
  • Your covenant with death will be dissolved, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand. When the overwhelming scourge passes through, you will be trampled by it.

    Isaiah 28:18

    • שְׁא֖וֹלsheolnoun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: Sheol
  • I said, “In the prime of my life I must go through the gates of Sheol and be deprived of the remainder of my years.”

    Isaiah 38:10

    • שְׁא֑וֹלsheolnoun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: Sheol
  • For Sheol cannot thank You; Death cannot praise You. Those who descend to the Pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness.

    Isaiah 38:18

    • שְׁא֛וֹלsheolnoun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: Sheol
  • You went to Molech with oil and multiplied your perfumes. You have sent your envoys a great distance; you have descended even to Sheol itself.

    Isaiah 57:9

    • שְׁאֽוֹל׃sheolnoun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: Sheol

Ezekiel

five uses
  • This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘On the day it was brought down to Sheol, I caused mourning. I covered the deep because of it; I held back its rivers; its abundant waters were restrained. I made Lebanon mourn for it, and all the trees of the field fainted because of it.

    Ezekiel 31:15

    • שְׁא֙וֹלָה֙sheolahnoun · masculine or feminine singular + directional ending (“toward”)tagged: Sheol towards
  • I made the nations quake at the sound of its downfall, when I cast it down to Sheol with those who descend to the Pit. Then all the trees of Eden, the choicest and best of Lebanon, all the well-watered trees, were consoled in the earth below.

    Ezekiel 31:16

    • שְׁא֖וֹלָהsheolahnoun · masculine or feminine singular + directional ending (“toward”)tagged: Sheol towards
  • They too descended with it to Sheol, to those slain by the sword. As its allies they had lived in its shade among the nations.

    Ezekiel 31:17

    • שְׁא֖וֹלָהsheolahnoun · masculine or feminine singular + directional ending (“toward”)tagged: Sheol towards
  • Mighty chiefs will speak from the midst of Sheol about Egypt and her allies: ‘They have come down and lie with the uncircumcised, with those slain by the sword.’

    Ezekiel 32:21

    • שְׁא֖וֹלsheolnoun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: Sheol
  • They do not lie down with the fallen warriors of old, who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war, whose swords were placed under their heads, whose shields rested on their bones, although the terror of the mighty was once in the land of the living.

    Ezekiel 32:27

    • שְׁא֣וֹלsheolnoun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: Sheol

Hosea

two uses
  • I will ransom them from the power of Sheol; I will redeem them from Death. Where, O Death, are your plagues? Where, O Sheol, is your sting? Compassion is hidden from My eyes.

    Hosea 13:14

    • שְׁאוֹל֙sheolnoun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: Sheol
    • שְׁא֔וֹלsheolnoun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: O Sheol

Amos

one use
  • Though they dig down to Sheol, from there My hand will take them; and though they climb up to heaven, from there I will pull them down.

    Amos 9:2

    • בִשְׁא֔וֹלvisholpreposition + noun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: in Sheol

Jonah

one use
  • saying: “In my distress I called to the LORD, and He answered me. From the belly of Sheol I called for help, and You heard my voice.

    Jonah 2:2

    • שְׁא֛וֹלsheolnoun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: Sheol

Habakkuk

one use
  • and wealth indeed betrays him. He is an arrogant man never at rest. He enlarges his appetite like Sheol, and like Death, he is never satisfied. He gathers all the nations to himself and collects all the peoples as his own.

    Habakkuk 2:5

    • כִּשְׁא֜וֹלkisholpreposition + noun · masculine or feminine singulartagged: like Sheol

The letters

Where it leads

How the numbers are counted

Every count on this page comes from STEP Bible's tagged Hebrew and Greek text, the same text the ledger prints. A use is counted once each time the tagging marks a word with this key.

Spellings are counted as the Greek text spells them, with the sentence's own punctuation taken off the word first, so a form that ends a clause is not counted as a second spelling.

The words it stands beside are the nouns, verbs and adjectives immediately before or after it, counted in every verse where the word stands. The article, the conjunctions and the prepositions are left out, because they stand beside every word.

The family is read from the lexicon by the stem the two words share, with the accents off, and a person or a place named on the stem is left out.

Hebrew and Greek text, word tagging and grammar: STEP Bible (www.STEPBible.org), Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0. Their grammar codes are written out in English here and shown as tagged beside each one.

Meaning and senses: STEP Bible TBESH gloss (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary key: Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890, public domain). English verse text: Berean Standard Bible (public domain, 2023).

Revised 2026-09-05. Every cited work, the sources registry →