SHEOL (LXX. Hades, Thanatos, Vulg. Inferi), a Hebrew term of very frequent occur rence (65 tines) in the Old Testament, and rendered by the authorized version: grave, hell; or pit. Its derivation is doubtful: while souse connect it with a root, denoting to seek, others derive it from a root, "to dig out," " to hollow" (compare Germ. //ale). The use of the word in the original would seem to prove at great fluctuation of the dogma respecting the world to come, during the various periods represented in the special parts of the Bible. Sometimes it does stand unmistakably for " tomb," although our notions of an artificially prepared grave do not originally belong to it; at other times, it is the abode of disembodied spirits, whether good or evil. It is the place where the dead go to be united with their " people," their " ancestors," friends, and all the departed. It was
placed in the center of the earth, or below the ocean, and was a dismal dark place, like the Orcus, or Tartarus. • It has gates- and bars, it has chambers, valleys, and rivers, and its inhabitants—the shadows—(rephainz=feeble ones), who ordinarily enjoy deep repose in this "reign of silence," ire troubled by being calle,I up to the surface, or tremble at the arrival of some great tyrant. As the receptacle of all things, it contains the shadows , even of trees and kingdoms. It is described as all-devouring, remorseless, and insati able. There can be no doubt of the existence of an idea—however vague—if not of immortality, in the modern sense, yet of some state after life among the Hebrews, even in the earliest times. Fur the Gehenna (Ge-Iliaom) of the New Testament—the con temporaneous Sheol---see HELL.