Hi Ian,
Here is an email that should help with the verse in Ezekial and below that is from the Lake of Fire series 'Sheol Translated Hell,' that should give you help with other places hell is mentioned.
http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,3121.0.html ---------
Some things can be "explained," but may not be able to be "proved." I can tell you that all of these Scriptures are in "figurative" rather than "literal" language, but that does not means that you will believe me, anymore than when I showed "plucking out one's eye or cutting of one's hand" in accordance with Christ's admonition concerning offensive sins, was believed by those who read it. I received comments that these admonitions were indeed LITERAL, even though they conceded that we are not to LITERALLY pluck out our physical eyes, etc.
How, for example does "pomp" go to the grave (or sheol)? It is, of course, FIGURATIVE. If these verses in figurative language are literal, then we must concede that such verses as Gen. 4:10 are literal: "...the VOICE of your brother's BLOOD cries unto Me from the ground." Someone might actually claim that blood is immortal, and although spilled on the ground, and completely dried up, nonetheless, is still alive and......AND POSSESSES VOCAL CORDS AND CAN SPEAK!!
http://bible-truths.com/lake16-B.html -----------------------------
In all the "Torah"—the Law, that is all the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, the word "hell" appears but once in the King James Bible. Here it is:
1. "For a fire is kindled in mine anger and shall burn unto the lowest hell [Heb: sheol], and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains" (Deut. 32:22).
Well, at last. There it is, "fire" is found with the word sheol, so surely now we have found Scriptural proof that sheol sometimes does mean the Christian "hell of eternal torture in fire," right? WRONG! This verse says nothing of burning dead people in sheol with fire.
The whole chapter is a "Song of Moses" (See verse 1). God prophesies through Moses’ Song, His anger over Israel’s lack of faith and the fact that they will turn to other gods, and for this God will punish them. He will not, however, torture them in an eternal fire of a Christian hell. Here is what God will do to them:
"For the Lord shall judge His people… I KILL, and I make ALIVE: I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of My hand" (Deut. 32:36a & 39).
Notice that according to God Himself, the only way that someone He "kills" can ever live again is if God also "makes alive" again. Do Christians believe that dead people must be made alive again? No, of course not. They don’t believe that dead people are even dead, so why would God ever have to "make alive" again? It is not Scientifically, Physiologically, or Scripturally possible to physically DIE and yet be alive.
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2. The sorrows of hell [Heb: sheol] compassed [surrounded] me about: the snares of death prevented [confronted] me" (II Sam. 22:6).
Does anyone believe that David just narrowly escaped the tortures of an eternal hell of pain in literal fire? No? I don’t either. But I can clearly see how he felt death and the grave closing in on him when his enemies were out to kill him.
3. It [the wisdom and secrets of God] is as high as heaven; what can you do? Deeper than hell [Heb: sheol] ; what can you know" (Job 11:08).
This is poetic language and has nothing to do with a place of torture in fire.
4. Hell [Heb: sheol] is naked before him, and destruction has no covering" (Job 26:6).
5. The wicked shall be turned [Heb: shub] into hell [Heb: sheol], and all the nations that forget God" (Psalm 9:17).
I heard this verse quoted on TV just this past Sunday. Boy oh boy this one seems pretty hard to side step, isn’t it? "The wicked shall be turned into hell." Well, maybe not. The translators have tried to do their tricky little deceitfulness once more. You see, the word translated "turned" is the Hebrew word shub and it means "to RETURN," (not, "turn" or "turned"), but REturn or REturned. In fact this word is translated "return" or "returned" almost 100% of the approximately 450 times it is used. Notice how other versions correct this same verse:
"The lawless shall RETURN [Heb: shub] to hades, All nations forgetful of God" (Psalm 9:17, Rotherham’s Emphasized Bible).
"The nations shall be TURNED BACK unto sheol, All nations that are forgetful of God" (Psalm 9:17, The New American Bible).
"The wicked do TURN BACK to sheol, All nations forgetting God" (Psalm 9:17, Young’s Literal Translation).
"The wicked shall RETURN [Heb: shub] to the unseen, all nations forgetful of God" (Psalm 9:17 Concordant Literal Old Testament).
Actually "return" is a better translation than "turn back," but at least we can see that other translators see and use the proper meaning of shub, which of course, The King James did not.
The Bible likens death to a "Return." The soul RETURNS to sheol/hades—the UNSEEN. The spirit RETURNS to God who gave it. And the body RETURNS to the dust of the ground from whence it came. And so likewise, the wicked nations will be RETURNED to sheol—the grave, sheol, the unseen, DEATH.
If "sheol" is a Christian hell of torture in fire, then they would also have to conclude that these nations also CAME FROM an eternity of suffering in fire, and they are not RETURNING to that same place. Anyone see a problem with such unscriptural nonsense?
6. "For you will not leave my soul in hell [Heb: sheol]; neither will You suffer Your Holy One to see corruption" (Psalm 16:10).
Although this is a prophecy concerning the Lord, it is nonetheless, the words of David concerning himself and his own salvation from sheol. Notice that David concedes that he (his soul, the conscious, sentient self) will die and go to sheol. But David’s prayer is that God, "will not LEAVE my soul in sheol." Everyone’s soul goes to sheol at death—both the sinners and the saints.
7. "The sorrows of hell [Heb: sheol] compassed me about: the snares of death prevented [confronted] me" (Psalm 18:5).
David is not in sheol, but rather is sorrowful in just contemplating death.
8. "Let DEATH seize upon them, and let them go down quick into hell [Heb: sheol]: for wickedness is in their dwellings, and among them" (Psalm 55:15).
Notice that that one must be "dead" in order to go to sheol.
9. "For great is Thy mercy toward me: and you have delivered my soul from the lowest [depth of] hell [Heb: sheol]" (Psalm 86:13).
10. "The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell [Hb: sheol] got hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow" (Ps. 116:3).
11. "If I ascend up into heaven, You are there: if I make my bed in hell [Heb: sheol], behold, You are there" (Psalm 139:08).
12. "Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell [Heb: sheol]" (Prov. 5:5).
Seems pretty clear that feet and steps are one, and they go to one place—death and hell [sheol] are all one.
13. "Her house is the way to hell [Heb: sheol], going down to the chambers of death" (Prov. 7:27).
Once more, her house with its chambers, go down to hell/sheol and death.
14. "But he knows not that the DEAD are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell [Heb: sheol]" (Prov. 9:18).
Hell/sheol contains DEAD PEOPLE, not living souls!
15. "Hell [Heb: sheol] and destruction are before the Lord: how much more then the hearts of the children of men?" (Prov. 15:11).
16. "The way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart [keep away] from hell [Heb: sheol] beneath" (Prov. 15:24).
17. "You shall beat him with the rod, and shall deliver his soul from hell [Heb: sheol]" (Prov. 23:14).
18. Hell [Heb: sheol] and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied" (Prov. 27:20).
19. "Therefore hell [Heb: sheol] has enlarged herself, and opened her mouth with out measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoices, shall descend into it" (Isa. 5:14).
20. Hell [Heb: sheol] from beneath is moved for you to meet you at the coming; it stirs up the dead for you, even all the chief ones of the earth; it has raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations" (Isa. 14:9).
21. "Yet you shall be brought down to hell [Heb: sheol] to the sides of the pit" (Isa. 14:15).
22. "Because you have said, We have made a covenant with DEATH, and with hell [Heb: sheol] are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves" (Isa. 28:15).
23. "And your covenant with DEATH shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell [Heb: sheol] shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then you shall be trodden down by it" (Isa. 28:18).
Notice in both verses 15 and 18 of Isa. 28 that "death and hell" keep company together. Another major proof that those in sheol are DEAD, not tortured in fire. Sheol is associated with DEATH, not life.
24. "And you went to the king with ointment, and did increase your perfumes, and did send your messengers far off, and did debase yourself even unto hell [Heb: sheol]" (Isa. 57:9).
25. "I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall; when I cast him down to hell [Heb: sheol] with them that descend into the pit and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, shall be comforted in the nether parts of the earth" (Ezek. 31:16).
26. "They also went down into hell [Heb: sheol] with him unto them that be slain with the sword: and they that were his arm, that dwelt under his shadow in the midst of the heathen" (Ezek. 31:17).
27. "The strong among the mighty shall speak to him out of the midst of hell [Heb: sheol] with them that help him: they are gone down, they lie uncircumcised, slain by the sword" (Ezek. 32:21).
28. "And they shall not lie with the mighty that are fallen of the uncircumcised, which are gone down to hell [Heb: sheol] with their weapons of war: and they have laid their swords under their heads, but their iniquities shall be upon their bones, through they were the terror of the mighty in the land of the living" (Ezk. 32:27).
29. "Though they dig into hell [Heb: sheol], thence shall mine hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down" (Amos 9:2).
30. "And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and He heard me; out of the BELLY of hell [Heb: sheol] cried I, and You heard my voice" (Jonah 2:2).
Imagine that! The belly of a FISH is also the "belly of hell." But for sure there was no literal fire inside that fish torturing Jonah.
31. "Yea also, because he transgresses by wine, he is a proud man, neither keeps at home, who enlarges his desire as hell [Heb: sheol] , and is as DEATH, and cannot be satisfied, but gathers unto him all nations, and heaps unto him all people" (Hab. 2:5).
Again we see death and hell keeping company. There is NO CONSCIOUSNESS in sheol / hades / grave / death. Jonah only figuratively (symbolically) cried out from "the belly of hell/sheol." Jonah was not literally in sheol, as he had not died, although he was very close to it. David in the same way, cried out in his agony as though he had already been consumed with death, although he had not.
We have now quoted every Scripture from the Hebrew Old Testament which contains the word sheol. 3 times as "pit," 31 times "grave," and 31 times "hell." Not once did we read of "PUNISHMENT," "TORTURE IN FIRE," or a place of "EVERLASTING" anything. We have clearly seen that both the righteous and the unrighteous go to this same condition and place called sheol. It is spoken of literally, figuratively, symbolically, and poetically.
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mercy, peace and love
Kat