シェオル

The Hebrew term for the realm of the dead, appearing 65 times in the Old Testament. Sheol is described as below the earth (Numbers 16:30), dark and silent (Job 10:21-22, Psalm 115:17), and the common destination of all who die (Psalm 89:48). It is not identical to hell but represents the shadowy existence of the dead. Jacob expected to go to Sheol in mourning (Genesis 37:35). The psalmist trusted God to rescue from Sheol: 'You will not abandon me to the realm of the dead' (Psalm 16:10). Progressive revelation eventually distinguishes between the fates of the righteous and wicked (Daniel 12:2), a distinction fully clarified in the New Testament.