The Hebrew word she’ol in the NIV is uniformly translated grave, or pit. Both man and beast go to she’ol (Ps 49:14). It never suggests a place of torment nor eternal punishing but rather a place of darkness, just like an ordinary grave or crypt.
In Hebrew two words are often used in parallel and sometimes interchangeably: שְׁאוֹל She'ol (="grave" or "place of the dead") and בּוֹר bowr (="pit"). It is uniformly a place of darkness and unconscious silence. Here is a sample:
- Isa 14:15 - But you are brought down to the realm of the dead [=she'ol], to the depths of the pit [=bowr].
- Isa 38:18 - For the grave [=she'ol] cannot praise you, death cannot sing your praise; those who go down to the pit [=bowr] cannot hope for your faithfulness.
- Prov 1:12 - let’s swallow them alive, like the grave [=she'ol], and whole, like those who go down to the pit [=bowr];
- Num 16:33 - They went down alive into the realm of the dead [=she'ol], with everything they owned; the earth closed over them, and they perished and were gone from the community.
The OT describes the following about she'ol [ie, the grave] at death:
- Jacob was to go to she'ol, Gen 37:35, 42:38, 44:29, 31
- Korah, Dathan and Abiram went into she'ol alive, Num 16:30, 33
- No one praises God in She'ol, Ps 6:5, because it is silent, Ps 31:17
- The wicked go into she'ol, Ps 9:17
- She'ol is a place of total decay, Ps 49:14
- it is possible to be thrown alive into she'ol, Ps 55:15 (presumably to die soon after!)
- in She'ol there is neither work, or thought or knowledge or wisdom, Eccl 9:10
All the above is consistent with she'ol being a poetic word for the grave as is done by versions like the NIV.
