SEeWATCHTOWER.

Published Semimonthly By

WATCH TOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOCIETY 117 Adams Street .   - Brooklyn 1, N.Y., U.S.A*

0 FEICEBS

N. H. Knorr, President              Grant Suiter, Secretary

“And all thy children shall be taught of Jehovah; and great shall be the peace of thy children.” - Isaiah 34:13.

THE BIBLE CLEARLY TEACHES

THAT JEHOVAH Is the only true God, from everlasting to everlasting, and Is the Maker of heaven and earth and Giver of life to hls creatures; that the Word or Logos was the beginning of hls creation and hls active agent In creating all other things; and that the creature Lucifer rebelled against Jehovah and raised the issue of Hls universal sovereignty;

THAT GOD created the earth for man, made perfect man for the earth and placed him upon It; that man yielded to unfaithful Lucifer, or Satan, and willfully disobeyed God's law and was sentenced to death; that by reason of Adam’s wrong act all men are born sinners and without the right to life;

THAT THE LOGOS was made human as the man Jesus and suffered death in order to produce the ransom or redemptive price for obedient men; that God raised up Christ Jesus divine and exalted him to heaven above every other creature and clothed him with all power and authority as head of God’s new capital organization;

THAT GOD’S CAPITAL ORGANIZATION is a Theocracy called Zion, and that Christ Jesus Is the Chief Officer thereof and is the rightful King of the new world; that the faithful anointed followers of Christ Jesus are Zion’s children, members of Jehovah’s organization, and are Hls witnesses whose duty and privilege it is to testify to Jehovah’s supremacy and declare his purposes toward mankind as expressed in the Bible;

THAT THE OLD WORLD, or Satan’s uninterrupted rule, ended AD. 1914, and Christ Jesus has been placed by Jehovah upon the throne, has ousted Satan from heaven, and now proceeds to vindicate Hls name and establish the “new earth”;

THAT THE RELIEF and blessings of the peoples can come only by Jehovah's kingdom under Christ, which has begun; that Hls next great act Is to destroy Satan’s organization and establish righteousness completely in the earth; and that under the Kingdom the people of good-will surviving Armageddon will carry out the divine mandate to “fill the earth” with righteous offspring, and that the human dead in the graves will be raised to opportunities of life on earth.

ITS MISSION

HIS journal is published for the purpose of enabling the people to know Jehovah God and his purposes as expressed in the Bible. It publishes Bible instruction specifically designed to aid Jehovah’s witnesses and all people Of good-wllh

It arranges systematic Bible study for its readers and the Society supplies other literature to aid in such studies. It publishes suitable material for radio broadcasting and for other means of public instruction In the Scriptures.

It adheres strictly to the Bible as authority for Its utterances. It is entirely free and separate from all religion, parties, sects or other worldly organizations. It is wholly and without reservation for the kingdom of Jehovah God under Christ hls beloved King. It is not dogmatic, but invites careful and critical examination of its contents in the light of the Scriptures. It does not indulge In controversy, and its columns are not open to personalities.

Notice to Subscribers: Remittances should be sent to office in your country in compliance with regulations to guarantee safe delivery of money. Remittances are accepted at Brooklyn from countries where no office is located, by international money order only. Subscription rates in different countries are stated below in local currency. Notice of expiration (with renewal blank) is sent at least two Issues before subscription expires. Chancre of address when sent to our office may be expected effective within one month. Send your old as well as new address.

Please address the Watch Tower Society in every case.

Offices                                         Yearly Subscription Rate

America (U.S.), 117 Adams St., Brooklyn 1, N.Y.

Australia, 11 Beresford Rd., Strathfleld, N.S.W.

British West Indies, 21 Taylor St., Woodbrook, Port of Spain, Trinidad $1.25 Burma, 39 Signal Pagoda Road, Rangoon                       Rs. 3/8

Canada, 40 Irwin Ave., Toronto 6, Ontario

England, 34 Craven Terrace, London, W. 2

India, 167 Love Lane, Bombay 27                              Bs. 3/8

Jamaica, 151 King St., Kingston

Newfoundland, Post Box 521, St. John’s

New Zealand, G. P.O. Box 30, Wellington, C. 1

Nigeria, West Africa, P.O. Box 695, Lagos

Philippine Republic, 104 Roosevelt Road,

San Francisco del Monte, Quezon City          2 pesos

South Africa, 623 Boston House, Cape Town

T. Bawaii, 1228 Pensacola St., Honolulu 14

Translations of this journal appear in many languages.

ALL SINCERE STUDENTS OF THE BIBLE who by reason of Infirmity, poverty or adversity are unable to pay the subscription price may have The Watchtower free upon written application to the publishers, made once each year, stating the reason for so requesting it. We are f;lad to thus aid the needy, but the written application once each years required by the postal regulations.

Printed In the United States of America

Entered as second-class matter at the post office at Brooklyn, N, T., under the Act of March 3,1879.

“RAISING THE SIGNAL” TESTIMONY PERIOD

The first of the Testimony Periods of the new service year is entitled “Raising the Signal”, during October. We rejoice that God has disclosed that the Signal is his now reigning King Jesus Christ and that we can have a part in lifting up this glorious Signal by giving the widest publicity and greatest conspicuousness to him and his kingdom. We have the means to do it, and taking advantage of these means we shall, during October, offer all people on all occasions a year’s subscription for the Awake I magazine, at the regular rate of $1.00. This 32-page uncensored magazine will aid many to see the truth. Here lies a blessed opportunity for our Watchtower readers. Let all of them join us in raising the Signal during this special Testimony Period. Our aid to do so is assured to all who may need it in the way of instructions, territory, supplies, and associates in the work. Drop us your request by card. At the end of October report what you have done, on our report form, that yours may be combined with the reports of all other Signal raisers for a world-wide total report.

“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES

Week of October 9: “Emptying Hell,” fl 1-19 inclusive, The Watchtower September 1, 1949.

Week of October 16: “Emptying Hell,”

fl 20-35 inclusive, also “Agreement with Hell Overturned,” fl 1-3 inclusive, The Watchtower September 1, 1949.

ANNUAL MEETING

OF WATCH TOWER BIBLE AND TRACT SOCIETY

The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, a nonprofit Pennsylvania corporation, will hold the annual meeting of its members on Saturday, October 1, 1949, at 10:00 o’clock, forenoon, at the registered office of the Society, Wabash Building, 410 Liberty Avenue, Pittsburgh 22, Pennsylvania. Regular business of the corporation will be then transacted.

This announcement merely supplements the regular notices of the meeting, which are being mailed to the members together with proxy forms. Every member, whether attending the meeting in person or not, should mail his proxy to the office of the secretary of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, 124 Columbia Heights, Brooklyn 2, New York, by September 15, 1949.

USE RENEWAL SUBSCRIPTION BLANK

The renewal blank sent you prior to the expiration of your Watchtower subscription should be filled out and returned to the Brooklyn office or to the Branch office in the country where you reside. Servants in the companies, and individuals, when sending in renewals for The Watchtower, should always use these blanks. By filling in these renewal blanks you are assured of the continuation of your Watchtower from the time of expiration, and without delay. It will also be a great help if you sign your name uniformly, and note any recent change of address, on the renewal slip.

ANNOUNCING JEHOVAH'S KINGDOM

Vol. LXX                            September 1, 1949                                No. 17

“HELL” USED AS A SCARE

"And the sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and hell gave up the dead that were in them; . . . And hell and death were cast into the pool of fire. This is the second death, the pool of fire.”

—Apocalypse 30:13,14, Cath. Confrat.

JEHOVAH God "will one sweet day completely destroy this thing called “hell”. This great blessing for mankind he has turned over to his kingdom by his Messiah to accomplish. He will accomplish it, not by wiping out the place together with those in it, but by emptying the place of those in it. The first step toward emptying it he took nineteen centuries ago. That was when he brought one occupant back from the place. By this he showed he is able to free the place of all its occupants when his chosen time comes under his kingdom. Such an event may not be such a pleasant thing to contemplate for undertakers, business concerns that run burying grounds, religious clergymen who take a money fee for preaching a funeral sermon, or those who ask and accept “donations” for praying and performing religious rites for people there. It is, however, a great comfort and relief to persons who know the truth about “hell” and who believe in Jehovah’s almighty power to perform his stated purpose respecting it. This removes a great deal of fear, both for ourselves and for others who concern us, and it calls forth our love toward Jehovah God.

• ² Our special interest was excited toward the place recently by the action of the leading religionist of Christendom, as reported world-wide in the news. This makes it a subject for public comment and discussion, no matter how high the religious leader may be reputed to be. In its edition of March 23,1949, the New York Sun came forth with the bold headlines: “Pope Pius Urges Preaching of Hell to Save Mankind.” Then, following the dateline “Vatican City, March 23”, it quoted a dispatch by the Associated Press, which said, in part: “Pope Pius today urged the preaching of hell to recall men to God. Addressing Roman pastors in his annual Lenten audience, he said: ‘It is sorrowful to see so many today— among them many Catholics—living as though their only aim is to form heaven on earth, without any thought of the beyond and of eternity.... Preaching of the first truths of faith ... is more than ever urgent . . . and so is the preaching of hell. Without doubt, such a subject must be handled with dignity and wisdom. It is true that desire for heaven is a motive in itself more perfect than fear, but from that it does not follow that it is for all men the most effective means of holding them far from sin and converting them to God.’ ” The New York Times next day quoted from the same dispatch and said: “Pope Pius called today for ... a greater emphasis on hell’s fire preaching in the Church.” Just how intensively Roman Catholic clergymen throughout the earth will carry out this exhortation, especially during the pope’s “holy year” of 1950, remains to be seen. But if they are urged to preach it more emphatically, we can be excused for here taking up a candid discussion of this subject as vital to distressed mankind.

• ⁸ Our discussion of this subject is not undertaken with any desire to join religionists in instilling in any people, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, or otherwise, a morbid dread or fear of what may happen to them at the moment they die. Our object is to magnify the justice of God and also his great love by correcting the gross slander and misrepresentation that has been heaped upon him by Christendom. By this we can free honest people of their unfounded fears through a misunderstanding of God’s purposes and provisions. This we can do only by setting forth the truth fearlessly and plainly, and that means according to God’s own Word. “Thy word is truth,” is what the Son of God said. It is written: “Hell is naked before him.” So God knows what the place is and what is the condition of people there. (Job 26:6, Catholic Douay) The apostle Paul stated the proper basis for investigation when he wrote: “But God is true; and every man a liar, as it is written, That thou mayest be justified in thy words, and mayest overcome when thou art judged.” (Rom. 3: 4, Douay) We let God be true, we recognize him as true, by letting him speak for himself and accepting his word as final, though all men and religions of this world be contrary to God’s Word, the Holy Scriptures. In speaking contrary to what God’s Word says men call attention to their high worldly learning and their lofty titles, but in the end, which is very near, their religious traditions will be proved false, they will be exposed as liars, but Jehovah God will be vindicated as true.

  259

  
  

TO THE LATEST SCHOLARSHIP

• ⁴ The first one on record to refer to our subject of investigation is Jacob at the time that the false report was brought to him that his beloved son Joseph had been devoured by a wild beast. We read: “And all his children being gathered together to comfort their father in his sorrow, he would not receive comfort, but said: I will go down to my son into hell, mourning.” A like expression was made some years later when his older sons wanted to take Joseph’s young brother down to Egypt with them. Then Jacob said: “My son shall not go down with you: his brother is dead, and he is left alone: if any mischief befall him in the land to which you go, you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to hell.” (Gen. 37: 35 and 42: 38, Douay) The Catholic comment in the Murphy edition of the Doztay Version on Jacob’s words, “into hell,” reads: “That is, into limbo, the place where the souls of the just were received before the death of our Redeemer. For allowing that the word hell sometimes is taken for the grave, it cannot be so taken in this place; since Jacob did not believe his son to be in the grave, (whom he supposed to be devoured by a wild beast,) and therefore could not mean to go down to him thither: but certainly meant the place of rest where he believed his soul to be.”

• ⁵ How false this reasoning is shows up when we consider these points: When the prophet Jonah was in the belly of the big fish three days and three nights he prayed: “I cried out of the belly of hell.” (Jonas 2:1-3, Douay) If Jonah in the fish’s belly could be in hell, then how about Joseph in the belly of a wild animal? And if hell for Joseph did not mean the grave but meant some invisible place called “limbo” where Joseph’s immaterial, disembodied soul was supposed to be, why, then, did Jacob say that his “gray hairs” would be brought down with sorrow to hell? How could his material hairs which were part of his body go down to a supposed spirit world called “limbo”? Also why should Jacob grieve and go down to limbo in sorrow if this meant meeting Joseph there in a Paradise condition of bliss and rest?

• ⁸ The bringing of a supposed “limbo” into the discussion in order to get out of a religious difficulty is therefore without proper grounds. If, as the Roman Catholic commentator admits, hell means the grave in one place, why should it not mean that in all other places? Those who dislike to have the “terrors of hell” removed from their religious doctrines will object to this suggestion. But a study of every case where the Bible uses the word that Jacob uttered proves it to mean one and the same thing, the common grave to which mankind in general go, grave-dom. Those who have tried for over sixteen centuries to force mankind to join their religious systems by terrorizing them with God-defaming imaginations about the after-death state have failed to win mankind to God with a love for him expressed in keeping his commandments. Now it is time for these false religious teachers to step out of the way and let the truth be told, that people may lose their sickening dread of God and may learn to respect him for his righteousness and loving-kindness. “God is love.” Fiendishness repels, but love attracts. We never need fear God’s love will not win.

’ The language that Jacob spoke was ancient Hebrew, and the word he used to designate where he expected to join Joseph in death was “Sheol”. This can be proved if we refer to the latest American Roman Catholic translation of the book of Genesis, a translation by distinguished members of the Catholic Biblical Association in America, in 1948. At Genesis 37: 35 it transliterates the word Sheol from the Hebrew into English and reads: “Though all his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, he refused to be consoled, and said, T will go down mourning, to my son in Sheol.’ ” There are three other places in Genesis where Jacob and his sons used the word Sheol. This Catholic Confraternity’ Version does not there transliterate the word into English but puts upon Sheol an interpretation of its meaning by translating it the grave, as follows: “If any harm should befall him on the journey you must make, you would bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave" (Gen. 42: 38) “If you take this one also from me, and some harm befalls him, you will bring down my gray hairs in sorrow to the grave." (44:29) “And your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant, our father, in sorrow to the grave." (44: 31) The Roman Catholic rendering of the Hebrew word three times as the grave against one time as Sheol throws the weight of interpretation of “Sheol” over to the meaning of “the grave” in all cases.

• ⁸ In the inspired Hebrew Scriptures this word Sheol occurs 65 times. In all cases except two¹ the Catholic Douay Version renders it “hell”. As the American Catholic Confraternity has issued only its translation of Genesis till now, we do not know how it will deal ■with Sheol in the rest of the Hebrew Scriptures. But we can turn to the latest Roman Catholic scholarship in other languages to see how it does. It is very enlightening to Catholics as well as Protestants and Jews to compare the translations of recognized Roman Catholic scholars of our century. In 1904 the Crampon translation of the entire Bible from the original Hebrew and Greek appeared in the French tongue. It starts out by making Jacob and his sons say “the abode of the dead”,² and in twelve cases down to and including Job 14:13 the Crampon translation renders it “the abode of the dead”. But in all other 53 occurrences of the word, Crampon renders it scheol, to correspond with the Hebrew. What would any intelligent person conclude from this? Rightly just one thing, namely, that the Hebrew Sheol means “the abode of the dead”, with no indication of pain or pleasure in that place.

• ⁸ In 1942 an edition of the Spanish translation by Torres Amat was issued by Cardinal Copello of Buenos Aires, Argentina. In 41 cases this Spanish edition renders Sheol as “inferno” ;t and 16 times as “the grave”; and in the remaining 8 places as “sepulture, death; or, to die; or, the depth”. But it makes quite an admission of what “inferno” really means, when this Torres Amat translation says right in the text of four verses "inferno or graved and in one verse “inferno or death”.§ From this any person using his God-given reason would conclude that the inferno, which is understood to be hell, means simply the grave or the state of death. We have more recent confirmation of this. In 1944 the Spanish translation of the entire Bible by Nacar and Colunga, Roman Catholic clergymen, was published in Madrid, Spain. At Isaiah 28:18 this Nacar-Colunga translation shows what the original Hebrew word is by transliterating it as “Seol”. In 3 other cases it renders it “inferno”, but in 49 other cases “the grave”; and in the remaining 12 cases “abyss, the abode of the dead, Averno, or bosom”. Only their religious tradi-

• De sejour des marts, in French.

f Infierno, in Spanish.

tInfierno o sepulcro (Spanish), at Pss. 29:4; 114:3; Ezek. 31:15; 32:27. Psalms 30:3 and 116:3 in the King James Version in English.

5 Infierno o ... la muerte (Spanish), at Ps. 88:49. But Psalm 89:48 in the English King James Version. tions could have prevented these translators from translating the Hebrew word in all 65 instances either “Seol” or “the grave”.

• ¹⁰ Still later, in 1947, there was published in Madrid, Spain, the Spanish translation of the entire Bible by J. M. Bover, a Jesuit, and Dr. F. Cantera. This translation is more uniform, for it transliterates the Hebrew word 63 times as “seol”, and the remaining two times² translates it as “infierno”. At the place where “seol” occurs the first time (Gen. 37: 35) it has a footnote on the word in explanation, namely, “region of the dead”.t Except for those two verses, this Spanish Bover-Cantera translation corresponds with the American Standard Version, which in all 65 places transliterates Sheol from the Hebrew into the English, that the reader may attach just the one meaning to the word.

• ¹¹ By a comparison of all the foregoing Roman Catholic authorities, Douay, Catholic Confraternity, Crampon, Torres Amat-Copello, Nacar-Colunga, and Bover-Cantera, the proof is overwhelming and should be convincing that “hell” or “inferno” as translated from the Hebrew word Sheol means the common grave of mankind, gravedom. This explains why we find many casest where one translation or more will use “Sheol” whereas another or the others will use “inferno” and “grave”, “death,” or “abode of the dead”. But when Roman Catholic clergymen obey the pope’s mandate and preach about “hell”, will they point out facts like these to the Catholic population ? No! but they will continue using the untruths about “hell” as a scare to make “good Catholics” or more Catholics.

EMPTYING HELL

THE Hebrews who used the word Sheol in the Bible account knew what they meant by it. Their language discloses that they attached no thought of pain or pleasure to the place meant. In fact, they excluded all sensation and activity from it. They always associated it with death and the dead, not life and the living. The very meaning of the word in the original Hebrew tongue shows that Sheol signifies gravedom or the death condition of mankind. Sheol means literally either “resting-place” or “hollow place”. Both meanings well describe the grave, for it is generally a place hollowed out in the ground to receive the corpse; and Job 3:17 says:

• 1. What did Hebrew Bible writers understand Sheol rightly to be? “There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest.”

’ The earliest translation of the Scriptures, from Hebrew into Greek, was known as the Septuagint, and for Sheol this translation used the Greek word “Hades”. The simple literal meaning of “Hades” is "the unseen place”. The dead buried in the grave are in the unseen place or state. Hades is the word used by Jesus’ disciples in the Christian Greek Scriptures generally known as “The New Testament”. In course of time the Holy Scriptures were translated into Latin, and in it Sheol was translated by the Latin word “infernus”. Its literal meaning is “the lower

• 2. How did Greeks, Latins. English and Germans render Sheol t place, or, that which lies beneath, or, the underground”. That is where the dead in the graves are. When William Tyndale made his translation into English from 1525 to 1536, he used the word “hell”, and the later English translators have followed his example until recent times. Tyndale translated the Scriptures into the English of over four hundred years ago. To quote him, at Matthew 11:23: “And thou Capernaum which art lift vp vnto heven, shalt be brought doune to hell.” We must remember, therefore, that “hell” is an old English word. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon word helan, which meant “to conceal”. When Germans of four hundred years ago made Scripture translations they used the word Hoelle, which corresponds very closely with the German word “Hoehle”, meaning “a hollow"’. So it is seen that in all these translations as well as in the original languages of the Bible the words used described the common grave of mankind, and in themselves the words included no thought of torment or pleasure, no sensation or consciousness whatever.

USES OF “SHEOL”

• ³ The men of the Bible, correctly understanding what it was, spoke of it as a place in which to hide. Hence we hear Job, in his afflictions at the Devil’s hands, crying out to God: “Who will grant me this, that thou mayest protect me in hell, and hide me till thy wrath pass, and appoint me a time when thou -wilt remember me?” (Job 14:13, Douay) Now, if the Devil were down in hell, where he is usually pictured as being, Job would hardly pray to be hid there, when he was already suffering frightfully from the Devil. But knowing Sheol to be the grave, Job could reasonably pray to be let die and go there according to God’s will. Concerning the wicked who try to escape divine wrath Jehovah God says: “Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down.” (Amos 9: 2) Religionists usually say that hell is the opposite of heaven, but surely God was not saying that the wicked would try to climb up to heaven where He and the angels are, just to get away from him. If Sheol were a place with a compartment of fiery torment for the wicked, such persons would hardly want to hide themselves there. It would be like leaping from the frying pan into the fire.

• ⁴ The Bible speaks of the good and the bad alike as going to Sheol. Because of this the religionists with their heathenish ideas about the destiny of the two classes teach that Sheol is divided into two compartments in general, a place for the good, which they unscripturally call “limbo” or “Paradise”, and a place for the bad, to which they misapply the word “Gehenna”, a fiery place. One fact they ignore: that God’s Word shows that all mankind born from Adam are imperfect and sinful in God’s sight and hence all are condemned before him. “The wages of sin is death,” and ai.l are paying those wages. For that reason all go to the same place at death. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” (Rom. 6:23; 3:23) Before Jesus Christ died as a ransom sacrifice and was resurrected and ascended to heaven with the value of his sacrificial offering, no justification through faith in his lifeblood was possible for any man. There was no injustice, then, if all those dying before Christ’s ascension to heaven went to one and the same place, Sheol, the common grave. Then all could be redeemed from the same place by the one sacrifice of the Messiah.

“ When did Sheol (or “hell”, as it is translated) come into existence? As far as the record shows, it began to exist when the first witness of Jehovah God, namely, Abel, was killed by his brother Cain and his blood cried to God from the ground. Whether Cain buried Abel’s corpse we do not know. (Gen. 4:8-11) Nonetheless, his corpse, in crumbling and returning to the dust of which mankind is made, would go to the Bible hell or Sheol. It was not Abel crying to God from some unscriptural place called “limbo” or “Paradise” that called God’s attention to the murder. Paradise was then still on the earth, and cherubim and the flaming revolving sword were still at the east of Paradise to prevent man from re-entering and finding the tree of life there and living forever. (Gen. 3: 24; 4:16) It was Abel’s blood, which the ground had opened its mouth to receive, that called for divine vengeance. From then on all men and women who have died or been killed and who come under the provisions of Messiah’s ransom sacrifice have gone to the same place as Abel, to Sheol. (Eccl. 3:19-21) The patriarch Jacob did not think that his beloved son Joseph had been wicked so as to make his father grieve at the thought that Joseph had gone to Sheol where his father in his gray old age would join him. —Gen. 37:35; 42:38; 44:29,31.

‘ It is very apparent, therefore, that Sheol or “hell” was not created by Jehovah God as a realm in which the Devil should preside, for even those faithful to the Most High God go there at death. This temporary abode of the dead has claimed billions. It will continue to claim many more of mankind until this old world of Satan the Devil is destroyed at Armageddon and God’s Son Jesus Christ begins his reign of a thousand years. Till then Sheol will be greedy and never be satisfied. “Hell and destruction are never filled.” “There are three things that never are satisfied, and the fourth never saith: It is enough. Hell, and the mouth of the womb, and the earth which

• 3. How Is hell spoken of as a place In which to hide, and why?

• 4. How do religionists divide up hell? What fact do they ignore?

• 5. When did hell come into existence? Since then who go there⁹

• 6. Why is Sheol spoken of as never satisfied, as enlarged and deep⁹

is not satisfied with water: and the fire never saith: It is enough.” (Prov. 27:20; 30:15,16, Douay) Because so many were dying from famine and thirst, the prophet said: “Therefore hath hell enlarged her soul, and opened her mouth without any bounds.” (Isa. 5:14, Douay) Because it contains so many and can contain still more, it is spoken of as very deep. Its desire for victims is like a selfish man’s desire. —Job 11:8; Hab. 2:5.

ALL LIFELESS THERE

’ The religious instructors of Christendom have adopted the pagan philosophies regarding the human soul. For this reason they have wrested the Scriptures to teach that hell is in two sections, one of pleasantness for the righteous and the other of fiendish torment for the unrighteous. On this basis they are renewing their attempt, at the Vatican’s instructions, to frighten men into the religious systems by misrepresenting God and preaching terrifying untruths about the place and the state of those who die. In all this they resort to the pagan doctrine of the immortality of the human soul. If our soul is immortal, then, they reason, it must be alive in hell. And if both the good and the bad go to hell, it would be unjust for both classes to have the same experience there, and so they reason there must be a limbo or place of rest and of bliss for the good and a place of torture for the bad there.

⁸ For instance, the Revised Edition of the Baltimore Catechism No. 3 published by the Catholic Confraternity on April 21, 1949, at Paterson, New Jersey, undertakes to answer its catechism questions for the “modern world”. In answer to question 95, “What do we mean when we say in the Apostles’ Creed that Christ descended into hell?” it says: “We mean that, after He died, the soul of Christ descended into a place or state of rest, called limbo, where the souls of the just were waiting for Him. (a) Heaven had been closed by the sin of Adam. The just among the dead could not enter heaven until Christ satisfied for man’s sin and repaired its injuries. They awaited their redemption in limbo.”

⁶ In answering question 185, “Who are punished in hell ?” the same catechism says: “Those are punished in hell who die in mortal sin; they are deprived of the vision of God and suffer dreadful torments, especially that of fire, for all eternity, (a) The souls in hell are beyond all help. . . . They are doomed to the company of the devils for all eternity.”

¹⁰ Here we see the error into which the religionists have fallen for accepting the pagan doctrine of the inherent immortality of the human soul and for rejecting God’s plain statement: “Behold all souls are mine: . . . the soul that sinneth, the same shall 7. Due to believing what doctrine do religionists divide up hell?

8, 9. What does the new Catechism say about limbo and hell torment? 10. In so teaching, what Scripture truths does It reject? die.” (Ezech. 18:4, Douay) That meant Jesus’ soul, too, when he died for mankind’s sin, for Isaias 53:10-12 says: “He shall lay down his life for sin, . . . he hath delivered his soul unto death.” {Douay) Hence when Jesus died, there were no living conscious souls in any part of hell, nor any devils either. Even Jesus himself was not alive and conscious there so as to be able to preach to those who had died. Not only could he not preach there, but no one there could listen to any preaching. For Ecclesiastes 9:5,10 says: “The living know that they shall die, but the dead know nothing more, . . . for neither work, nor reason, nor wisdom, nor knowledge shall be in hell, whither thou art hastening.” {Douay) That is why the psalmist speaks of those in hell as if asleep in bed, saying: “If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.”—Ps. 139:8, Auth. Ver.; Crampon.

^xx This proves that Jesus was telling a parable, and not a reality, when he told of a certain rich man and a certain beggar named “Lazarus” and said: “And the rich man also died: and he was buried in hell. And lifting up his eyes when he was in torments, he saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom: and he cried, and said: ... I am tormented in this flame.” (Luke 16:22-24, Douay) Jesus was not saying that in the literal hell in which dead men are buried there is a literal fire. He was illustrating by a parable that in this life a person can die to certain rich privileges he once enjoyed in connection with the Abrahamic covenant and afterward suffer fiery experiences under God’s disfavor in this life down to the day he actually dies and ceases to exist.*

¹² Ah, but someone will say, Jonah cried out in the midst of the sea: “I cried out of my affliction to the Lord, and he heard me: I cried out of the belly of hell, and thou hast heard my voice.” (Jonas 2:3, Douay) Was not Jonah alive there in the “belly of hell”? Yes, but that does not prove those in hell are alive, for Jonah was not in the literal hell. He was alive in the belly of the whale or sea monster. It seemed almost impossible for him to get out alive, and so he thought the fish’s belly would be hell, that is, Sheol or the grave, for him. Down there, too, he was in the hollow place and in the unseen place. For all these reasons, then, he spoke of it as the “belly of hell”. If he had been in the real hell or Sheol, he would not have been alive and able to cry to Jehovah God. Centuries later Jesus said: “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” (Matt. 12:40) So Jesus at death went to the real hell or Sheol. Because

• • See article “Poor Man Comforted” in the booklet Refugees; also the article “Rich Man in Hell” in the booklet Hereafter; also The New World, pages 359-361.

• 11. What does this prove regarding the 'rich man In hell'?

• 12. Why do Jonah's case and words not disprove the Bible on "hell'’? Jonah was in great mental distress and discomfort bodily in the whale’s belly we cannot say it proves that those in hell are in “dreadful torments”. If that were true, then it would also prove that when Jesus was in hell or Sheol he, too, was in dreadful torments, for he compared himself with Jonah. Moreover Jonah got out of his “hell”, and so did Jesus get out of hell. Hence the case and the words of Jonah fail to contradict the rest of the Bible concerning the state of the dead and the nature of hell.

“Well, then, if there is no life in the place, why did Moses pray for certain rebels to “go down alive into hell”? Because he meant merely for them to be buried alive. He did not mean they would continue alive after they got there. In proof of this we read: “And they went down alive into hell, the ground closing upon them, and they perished from among the people.” (Num. 16:30,33, Douay) Meaning the same kind of burial alive, Psalm 54:16 (Douay) says: “Let death come upon them, and let them go down alive into hell.” (Ps. 55:15, Auth. Ver.) To describe how certain schemers talk of eating up an innocent man alive, Proverbs 1:12 quotes them as saying: “Let us swallow him up alive like hell, and whole as one that goeth down into the pit.” (Douay) Thus these texts fail to prove an immortal human soul lives on somewhere after death.

“ Concerning Adam’s creation God’s own Word says: “The first man, Adam, became a living soul,” and it was to this living soul that God said respecting the forbidden fruit: “The day you eat of it, you must die.” (1 Cor. 15:45 and Gen. 2: 7,16,17, Cath. Confrat.) When Adam sinned by eating the forbidden fruit, God sentenced him to death, saying: “Return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” (Gen. 3:19) God spoke of no survival of the soul for Adam and Eve. When one goes to the grave without being embalmed he dissolves to dust and ceases to exist as a living intelligent creature. This is why the Holy Scriptures say that those who go to Sheol or hell go out of existence and at last dissolve into formless, lifeless matter. This accounts for Job’s saying: “As a cloud is consumed, and passeth away: so he that shall go down to hell shall not come up.” (Job 7:9, Douay) “Drought and heat consume the snowwaters: so doth Sheol those that have sinned.” (Job 24:19, Am. Stan. Ver.; Crampon; Bover-Cantera) All this disproves that Sheol is such a place as the Roman Catholic Hierarchy describe, a place for preserving alive the human souls supposed to be immortal.

HOW THE SOUL GOES THERE

• ¹⁵ Here an interesting question confronts us: If

• 13. Does 'going down alive Into hell' prove any lite there? Why?

• 14. What happens physically to those going to Sheol or hell?

• 15. How does the Bible show where the human soul goes at death? the place is not for preserving souls alive, why do the Holy Scriptures say it is the soul that goes there ? The first time the Bible says so is in a prophecy that the apostle Peter applies to Jesus Christ. It reads: “Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; nor wilt thou give thy holy one to see corruption.” (Ps. 15:10 and Acts 2:27,31, Douay) Other scriptures that show the human soul goes there at death read: “Thou hast brought forth, 0 Lord, my soul from hell: thou hast saved me from them that go down into the pit.” “For thy mercy is great towards me: and thou hast delivered my soul out of the lower hell.” “Who is the man that shall live, and not see death: that shall deliver his soul from the hand of hell?” “Thou shalt beat him [a child] with the rod, and deliver his soul from hell.”—Douay Version at Pss. 29:4; 85:13; 88:49; Prov. 23:14.

• ¹⁸ By no stretch of the imagination can these inspired verses be interpreted to mean human souls are deathless and that after the body is buried an invisible, immaterial soul keeps on living and it goes to an unseen place to enjoy bliss and comfort in a so-called “limbo” or suffer fiery torments in a purgatory or an inferno. That would contradict the Bible, which says the human soul is not immortal but dies and that those in Sheol or hell are unconscious and inactive. The human soul is not separate and distinct from the physical body, and it cannot exist apart from the human body. It took the combining of the human body with the breath of life by God’s power to make the first man, Adam, become a living soul. The Bible speaks of the living creature as a soul. It also speaks of that creature’s active, conscious existence as the soul. In fact, the Hebrew word nephesh, which the King James Version Bible translates soul 428 times and creature 9 times, it also translates life 119 times; and the Greek word psyche, which it translates soul 58 times, it also translates life 40 times. So when they put Jesus’ corpse in the rock tomb in the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus’ dead body was there for three days, but his soul, that is, his active, conscious existence, had ceased to exist. He had “poured out his soul unto death”. So, with his dead body there in the grave and his conscious existence gone, the soul of Jesus was said to be in Sheol or hell. He could not have conscious existence or soul apart from a body of some kind, and as long as his human body lay lifeless there in the grave his soul or sentient existence was held down by the grave, Sheol or hell.

• ¹⁷ It is important to note that God’s inspired Word does not say of Jesus: ’Thou wilt not leave my body in hell.’ Nor do other scriptures say God would deliver the human body with which we die from Sheol or hell. It said of Jesus: “Thou wilt not leave my

• 16. How was the "soul" of Jesus In Sheol or hell?

• 17. What do the Scriptures show God raises from Sheol or hell? soul in hell.” What does this prove! This: that in the resurrection from death it is not the human body with which a person died that God raises from the dead. It is the soul or conscious existence as a creature that God resurrects, and there is no Bible support at all for the so-called “Apostles’ Creed” to speak of the “resurrection of the body”. This proves, too, that it was not the fleshly body with which Jesus died and which was buried that was raised from Sheol or hell. Before his dead human body could corrupt in the tomb, God miraculously dissolved Jesus’ dead flesh.—Acts 2: 31; 2 Cor. 5:1.

“Perplexed, some reader may cry out: “Well, if Jesus’ fleshly body was not raised, why was not his soul left in hell, and how could his soul be delivered and raised from hell?’ We answer: Soul or a creature’s conscious existence cannot exist apart from a body, can it? Also Jesus laid down his human flesh as a sacrifice, did he not? So God raised Jesus’ soul from hell or Sheol by giving him a new body, a spiritual or heavenly body, and infusing this with immortal life as a reward. This is exactly what the apostle Peter declares: “Because Christ also died once for sins, the Just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. Put to death indeed in the flesh, he was brought to life in the spirit, in which also he went and preached to those spirits that were in prison.” (1 Pet. 3:18,19, Cath. Conf rat.) Thus when Jesus was resurrected, he was raised as a spirit soul, because he was given a spirit body, just as he had a spirit body before he became a perfect man. He was resurrected to life in the spirit world. For this reason he could preach to those spirits who were held in prison because they had disobeyed God in Noah’s day. Those disobedient spirits or “sons of God” came down from heaven and materialized as extraordinary men and married the fair daughters of men and raised up a hybrid offspring. When they dematerialized their human bodies at the flood and returned to the spirit realm, God let them be imprisoned in the spirit world for their disobedience. If Jesus had not been raised a spirit soul at his resurrection and in this way returned to the spirit realm, he could not have preached to those disobedient imprisoned spirits there. (Gen. 6:1-4) But now Christ Jesus, being “brought to life in the spirit”, could be highly exalted in heaven, even to his Father’s right hand and far above angels.—Phil. 2: 5-11; 1 Pet. 3: 21, 22.

¹⁸ Note, please, that Peter did not say the “spirits in prison” were in hell. It is absolutely unscriptural to say, as many religionists do, that hell, Sheol or Hades is the “place of departed spirits”. It is simply stooping to rank demonism and paganism to use that expression and apply it to where humans go at death.

18, 19. (a) If his human body was dissolved, how was Jesus’ soul raised up? (b) Are there '‘departed spirits" in hell? Why?

There are no spirits (meaning spirit persons) there. Ecclesiastes 12:7 says of a man at death: “And the dust return into its earth, from whence it was, and the spirit return to God, who gave it.” {Douay) When Jesus was about to breathe his last on the torture stake at Calvary he did not say: '0 hell, into thy hands I commit my spirit.’ Jesus’ words, as reported at’Luke 23:46, were: “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” And in saying that, Jesus was quoting Psalm 30: 6 {Douay). That spirit was the lifepower from God which animated Jesus, and only Jehovah God could restore it to him and in this way resurrect him from the dead.

ITS GATES CANNOT PREVAIL

• ²⁰ If hell were a place for purgatorial suffering for some and of eternal torment for others, all of them in heat hotter than that of an atomic bomb explosion, then Jesus since his resurrection would be responsible for all their agonizing sufferings. What’s that? Yes! Because the resurrected Jesus said to the apostle John: “1 am the First and the Last, and alive, and was dead, and behold I am living for ever and ever, and have the keys of death and of hell.”* (Apoc. 1:17,18, Douay) Having the keys, Jesus can loose the dead not only from the death state but also from hell or Hades. Jesus was the First whom Jehovah God, by his own unassisted or direct power, resurrected from the dead. Jesus also is the Last whom God thus raises, because from now on Jehovah God uses his Son Jesus Christ to resurrect all the others dead in the graves. On this account Jesus said to Peter: “And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matt. 16:18, Douay) Will all the Roman Catholic Hierarchy please observe that Jesus did not tell Peter He was giving him the keys of hell. It was about thirty years after Peter had died that Jesus himself told the apostle John that He had the keys of death and of hell. With these in Jesus’ power, the “gates of hell” cannot prevail against his church or congregation of followers. Why not? Because he can release them and does so at the due time.

• ²¹ The expression “gates of hell” is an old one. Seven centuries before Jesus, King Hezekiah of Jerusalem thought he was at the point of death and he exclaimed: “In the midst of my days I shall go to the gates of hell.” That he expected to be dead there, and not living in bliss and comfort as in a paradise, he adds: “For hell shall not confess to thee, neither shall death praise thee: nor shall they that go down into the pit, look for thy truth.” (Isa.

• • Roman Catholic Dr. F. A. Spencer translates “Hades" here “grave”, as he also does at Apocalypse 6:8 and 20:13,14.

• 20. Why will hell's gates not prevail against Christ’s church?

• 21. Do hell's gates admit to Ilie? What related thing has gates? 38:10,18, Douay) Even death was spoken of as having gates. “Then the Lord answered Job out of a whirlwind, and said: Have the gates of death been opened to thee, and hast thou seen the darksome doors?” (Job 38:1,17, Douay) King David gratefully addressed Jehovah God with the words: "Thou that liftest me up from the gates of death, that I may declare all thy praises in the gates of the daughter of Sion.” (Ps. 9:15, Douay) And Psalm 106:18 (Douay) says of the disobedient: “Their soul abhorred all manner of meat: and they drew nigh even to the gates of death.”

• ²² When a man dies the gates of death open to receive him, and when he is buried the gates of hell, Sheol or Hades open to receive him. But none of such gates prevailed against Jesus, because he was faithful to God till death and for this the Almighty-God promised to resurrect him. Neither will the gates of hell and of death be able to prevail against the church of Jesus’ followers and hold them forever after they have proved faithful to death like Jesus. No; for the resurrected Jesus has all power in heaven and in earth and also has the keys of death and of hell. So he can use the keys and unlock the gates and raise them from the death state in the grave. He has promised to do so. (Apoc. 1:18; 2:10, Douay) He will deliver or resurrect their soul, not as creatures with human life, but as creatures with spirit life in heaven.

• ²³ Regarding their resurrection 1 Corinthians 15: 37, 38, 42, 44 states: “And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not the body that shall be; but bare grain, as of wheat, or of some of the rest. But God giveth it a body as he will: and to every seed its proper body. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it shall rise in incorruption. It is sown a natural body, it shall rise a spiritual body.” (Douay) They will forever after be spirit souls, being clothed upon with immortality and incorruption. They are the ones of whom it is written: “The trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall rise again incorruptible: and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption; and this mortal must put on immortality.” (1 Cor. 15: 52, 53, Douay) That applies to the apostle Peter, too. Even he must be released from behind the gates of hell by Jesus’ use of the “keys”.

NO FIRE THERE!

²‘ Never fear! There is no fire in any part of Sheol, Hades or the hell that God’s pure Word teaches. In order to frighten the ignorant into their religious systems and into submission to their religious hierarchy, the clergy of Christendom have tried to put 22, 23. (a) When do hell’s gates and death's gates swing open? (b) As what kind of souls will the church prevail over them, and how? 24. What do the clergy try to put In hell, and why? fire in Sheol, Hades or hell. They do so by translating a still different word as hell or inferno, namely, the Greek word Gehenna. The fact is, by the one word hell they translated three different Greek words, Hades, Gehenna, and Tartaros. In this way they let ignorant people imagine the three words mean one and the same thing or are all in the same place. We are honest with our readers when we say that all three apply to diff erent things. “Tartarus” occurs just once in Scripture, at 2 Peter 2:4 (Cath. Confrat.), and it does not apply to human creatures, but to the angels of heaven that sinned. It has no connection with Sheol or Hades. As for Gehenna, there was a place called by this name outside Jerusalem’s walls, to the southwest. There were fires there, all right, but the Jews never applied to that place the name Sheol or Hades. In his sermon on the mount Jesus, as translated by the Roman Catholic Dr. F. A. Spencer (1937), said: “But I tell you that every one enraged at his brother shall be liable to the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘Thou idiot,’ shall be liable to the Supreme Council; and whoever says, ‘Thou scoundrel,’ shall be liable to the Gehenna of fire.”—Matt. 5:22, Spencer; Cath. Conf rat.; Crampon; B over-Canter a.

• ²⁵ Spencer’s footnote on “Gehenna” in this verse reads: “In Hebrew, Ge-hinnom, the Vale or Valley of Hinnom. This was a valley to the south of Jerusalem where, during the reign of wicked kings, the pagan god Moloch was worshipped. During the reforms instituted by Josiah this idolatrous worship was abolished and the valley desecrated forever. The Jews thereafter used it as a dumping place for all kinds of refuse and the bodies of dead animals and criminals. To prevent infection, fires were kept always burning there; and the place became a type of the state of punishment of the lost.” Even the footnote on “Gehenna” in the Catholic Confraternity translation of 1941 advises us that criminals were not cast alive into this Gehenna to be tortured in the fire and brimstone there; but it was the place “where the bodies of criminals were burnt after execution of sentence”. They were thrown into this valley to be consumed either by maggots or by the sulphurous fires, because they were considered too vile to have a resurrection from death. Hence they did not get buried in a grave and so go to Sheol, Hades, hell or the common grave of mankind. From this standpoint Gehenna became the symbol of absolute destruction, annihilation.

• ²⁶ There is no life of a soul in Gehenna, and consequently no torture of human souls there after death. Jesus demonstrated this most plainly. When telling his apostles to preach the gospel boldly as from the

• 25. What did Gehenna come to signify, and why?

• 26. How did Jesus show no life Is In Gehenna and we must fear God? housetops, he said: “And be not afraid of those who lull the body, but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna,” (Matt. 10: 28, Spencer; Crampon; Bover-Cantera) By killing the human body our enemies can cause us to go to Sheol, Hades or hell; but by this they cannot destroy our soul. Of course, by such an act they can cause the stoppage of our soul or conscious life for a time. But that is not destroying it forever. Why not! Because God has promised to resurrect from Sheol or Hades those who are faithful to him. He will do so under Christ’s kingdom; and when he uses Jesus to resurrect his faithful followers, he will clothe them with immortality in the spirit realm. Why, then, should we fear the power of enemies to kill us by God’s permission to prove our faithfulness to him? Rather than fear them, we should fear him. Why? Because God can destroy both our soul and body in Gehenna, and Gehenna means the state of destruction from which there is no resurrection of the soul.

²⁷ Similarly Jesus said: “And to you who are My friends I say, be not afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after killing, has power to cast into Gehenna; yes, I tell you, fear Him!” (Luke 12: 4, 5, Spencer; Crampon; Nacar-Colunga) You see, neither pope, cardinal, clergyman, politician nor military officer can cast us into Gehenna for obeying God’s commands, because the extinction these men try to bring on us God Almighty can always nullify, raising us from the dead by Christ Jesus the King. That is why we should fear Jehovah God and not disobey him even when the orders and commandments of men conflict with His commands. Not that Gehenna into which he can cast us means eternal torment in literal fire and brimstone, which would be impossible because our human souls are not immortal. But his easting us into Gehenna after our body was killed and our soul died would mean his casting us into the condemned state from which a resurrection of the soul in the new world is not approved.

²⁴ That would mean absolute destruction of the soul or creature existence. It would mean an everlasting cutting off from all life as a soul anywhere. That is the “everlasting punishment” of which Jesus spoke in his parable of the sheep and the goats. There he symbolized it as the “everlasting fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels”. It is the opposite of “life eternal” into which the righteous “sheep” go in the new world under Christ’s kingdom. (Matt. 25:41,46, Spencer) Certainly, then, the One to fear is Jehovah God, who controls the resurrec-

27, 28. How can Cod cast Into Gehenna, and what does this mean? tion of souls, and who can therefore inflict everlasting punishment.

” Since the translators render the synonymous words Sheol and Hades as “hell”, it is a gross error for them to use the expressions “hell fire” and “fire of hell” and 'Tiell of fire”, as at Matthew 5:22 and 18:9, and Mark 9: 47, and James 3: 6. There is no fire in Sheol or Hades. For the sake of the truth the translations should rightly read “the Gehenna of fire”, and James 3:6 should read: “And the tongue is a fire, ... and is set on fire by gehenna.” {Rotherham; Young) This does not signify that our unruly tongues are a literal fire and are set aflame by the literal Gehenna that burned outside of Jerusalem in James’ day. The correct thought is that the tongue can do and start a lot of damaging talk as destructive as a conflagration and that such improper use of the tongue can bring on its user the everlasting destruction pictured by Gehenna. That is why James warned that it is a very responsible thing for a man to be a teacher in spiritual things, for he is responsible to God and he owes it to his listeners to teach the truth. When we think, therefore, of the religious clergy of Christendom and their wresting of the Scriptures on Hades, Sheol, Gehenna, and the soul, and other doctrines, there is true reason to fear for them. Jesus said to their ancient counterpart, the hypocritical scribes and Pharisees: “Serpents I brood of vipers! how may ye escape from the judgment of the gehenna?” (Matt. 23: 33, Young; Rotherham; Spencer) Let us not fear such men who try to instill fear by base, God-dishonoring falsehoods. Let us fear the God of truth, learning to know him according to truth.

THE DESTRUCTION OF HADES

^so It will sound strange and preposterous to most religionists, but God’s purpose by Christ is to destroy Sheol, Hades or hell. Nineteen centuries ago when he resurrected Jesus from the dead, that was his beginning of such destruction. How so? Because he did not leave Jesus’ soul to hell; and the apostle Paul tells us that the resurrection of Jesus is a guarantee of the resurrection of all others in the graves, that is, in Sheol or Hades. “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” In addition to which Jesus said: “The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; . . . unto the resurrection.” (John 5:28,29) Hell, Hades or Sheol is thus to be destroyed by emptying it of all those in it. It is also destroyed because Jesus Christ laid down his 29. What can set the tongue on fire? In what way? With what end? 30. How la hell to be destroyed, and what guarantees It?

life as a sacrifice to cancel that which leads men to death and grave, namely, sin inherited from Adam. The last book of the Bible; the Revelation or Apocalypse, symbolically describes how this will take place under the kingdom of God by Christ Jesus. There we read:

• ³¹ "And I saw a great white throne and the one who sat upon it; from his face the earth and heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and scrolls were opened. And another scroll was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged out of those things that were written in the scrolls, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and hell gave up the dead that were in them; and they were judged each one, according to their works. And hell and death were cast into the pool of fire. This is the second death, the pool of fire. And if anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the pool of fire.”—Apoc. 20:11-15, Cath. Confrat.; Douay.

• ³² We must be awake and observe here that hell or Hades is shown to be not the “pool of fire”. That hell or Hades here is the same as the Hebrew Sheol is proved for us by Etheridge’s translation from the Syriac Version of the text, which reads: “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and shiul gave up the dead which were in them. And they were judged every one according to their works. And death and shiul were cast into the lake of fire, which is the second death.” (Rev. 20:13,14)* It is dead people, not living people, that are given up, which shows that those in Hades or Sheol are unconscious, inactive, lifeless, and not immortal. That the Hades or Sheol where they have been and which gives them up is the grave is disclosed to us by the modern Roman Catholic translation by Spencer, which reads: “And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and the Grave gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged each one according to their works. And Death and the Grave were cast into the Lake of Fire. This is the second death—the Lake of Fire.”—Apoc. 20:13,14, Spencer.

• ³³ It may be because he would like to transfer the traditional meaning of hell to the “lake of fire” that this Roman Catholic clergyman here translates Hades as “the Grave”. But if Sheol or Hades means what the clergy of Christendom frighten people into thinking it is, namely, a place of horrible torment in literal fire and sulphur, then we ask, What is the

• * The Apostolical Acts and Epistles, from the Peschito, or Ancient Syriac, by J. W. Etheridge, M.A., London, 1899.

• 31. How does Revelation 20’11-15 picture Its destruction?

• 32. What does this prove hell not to be, and what does It give up? 33 Casting hell Into the pool ot fire raises what questions? sense of casting such a place of fire and sulphur into the 'flake of fire” 1 What is accomplished by it ? Ah 1 but someone might object, you forget that Sheol, Hades or hell is divided up into two regions, namely, Paradise or the place of rest for the just, and Gehenna or place of punishment for the wicked.* However, we reply that we are not forgetting this false interpretation of what the Scriptural Hades or Sheol is. Because of it the religionists trip themselves up. They not only claim the place is divided up into two sections, but that when Jesus Christ ascended to heaven, forty days after he was resurrected, he led those in that religious Paradise up there with him and that Paradise is now in the presence of God. So if that were the case, then when the resurrection and judgment described at Revelation 20:11-15 takes place, there is no more paradise in Sheol or Hades, but only the religious fiery place of torment. Hence, the casting of Hades into the lake of fire would still be the casting of one fiery place into another. Let the religionists explain the sense of it and what it means.

^3< According to the inspired Scriptures the casting of Hades or Sheol into the “pool of fire” means the destruction of hell. The apostle John explains that the “pool of fire” does not mean a literal lake of fire, but he says: "This is the second death—the Lake of Fire.” Hence the casting of anything into it means the death or destruction of such thing. The casting of Hades into it accordingly means destroying Hades or hell. This is done by destroying what hell means, and that is, the grave. When all those who are in the graves hear the voice of the Son of man, Christ Jesus the King, and come forth in a resurrection, that miracle will empty all the graves. There will be no more grave, no hell, just the same as to remove the corpses from a cemetery and turn the ground to other uses would be to destroy the cemetery. Christ Jesus will accomplish this sometime before the end of his reign of a thousand years, because all those who are resurrected to an opportunity for eternal life on earth must have an opportunity for a trial and then at last be judged at the full end of the thousand years.

³⁵ The test of their devotion to righteousness or to willful sin will be made by loosing Satan and his demons from the abyss of restraint for a short while to serve as tempters. Those of mankind who resist Satan and give unbreakable allegiance to Jehovah’s King and Theocratic Government will be granted eternal life on the Paradise earth. Those who yield to Satan and his demons and who are judged un-

• * See the footnote on Luke 16:23 of the translation by F. A. Spencer.

• 34. What does casting hell Into the pool mean? How Is It done? 35. How will also death be cast into the pool of fire? worthy of everlasting life will be cast, oh, no, not into Hades, Sheol or hell again. No, for that place will by then have been destroyed and will never be refilled. The divine judgment says: “And if any one was not found recorded in the Book of Life, he was cast into the Lake of Fire.” (Apoc. 20:15, Spencer) Since the lake of fire symbolizes the second death, that means such unrecorded ones are destroyed, body and soul, in Gehenna, in everlasting destruction. Their death is the "second death”, and not the death they inherited from Adam. Adamic death will no longer fill Hades or Sheol but will have been wiped out, because the King will have canceled all inherited sin. He will have lifted all those gaining eternal life out of the sinful, dying condition they inherited from Adam. In that way death, too, will be “cast into the Lake of Fire” and cease to be. “For he must reign until Ha puts all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be abolished is Death.” “And death shall be no more, nor shall grief nor wailing nor pain be any more; for the former things are passed away.” —1 Cor. 15:25 and Apoc. 21:4, Spencer.

AGREEMENT WITH

ONE final point for today! We are living in this world’s “time of the end”, the time of passing over from this old world into God’s clean, upright new world. As in Noah’s day, the mass of mankind face death and destruction, not from the possible Third World War with its atomic and biological weapons, but from the universal war of Armageddon, God’s fight by his King Christ Jesus. As in Jerusalem’s case of old, the religious, political and commercial rulers of Christendom today, by man-made schemes and arrangements, are trying to avoid getting killed. In the language of the prophecy that applies today, they say: “We have entered into a league with death, and we have made a covenant with hell. When the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come upon us: for we have placed our hope in lies, and by falsehood we are protected.” (Isa. 28:15, Douay) By secret diplomacy, by international alliances, by dependence upon military pacts, all contrary to the truth of God’s kingdom, they think they are secured for the future, should the worst come. They think they have a league with death by this, so that death will not touch them, and think they have a covenant or agreement with hell so that hell will not open its gates for them and they go down into the grave.

² Jehovah God shows they have figured wrong, because his battle of Armageddon will break up all their arrangements for selfish, personal safety. He adds: "And your league with death shall be abolished, and your covenant with hell shall not stand: when the overflowing scourge shall pass, you shall be trodden down by it. Whensoever it shall pass through, it shall

1. How do some now think they have made a covenant with hell? 2. How will their agreement with hell and death be overturned?

HELL OVERTURNED

take you away.” (Isa. 28:17-19, Douay) When the scourge of Armageddon sweeps through all the earth, all their arrangements for peace in this old world will be destroyed. Their supposed favorable terms made with death and with hell or the grave will prove like a scrap of paper, and they will go down into death and destruction as opposers of Jehovah God and of his kingdom by Christ Jesus. They loved lies!

³ However, at Armageddon there will be an unnumbered great multitude who will not be touched by death or descend into hell, Sheol or the grave. They are the people of good-will who heed "this gospel of the Kingdom”, which is now preached by Jehovah’s witnesses. They escape death and hell or the grave, but not by joining Christendom’s rulers in their league with death and covenant with hell. They could not escape such by man-made means and schemes, for Psalm 88:49 (Douay) says: “Who is the man that shall live, and not see death: that shall deliver his soul from the hand of hell¹?” But God can prevent his faithful ones from seeing death and can deliver them from going into hell, Sheol, Hades or the grave, and he has promised to do so for people of good-will at this end of the world. By abandoning the ungodly, death-dealing things of this world, they seek God’s righteousness and seek harmless meekness. Why! “If by any means you may be hid in the day of the Lord’s indignation.” (Soph. 2:3, Douay) Just as Noah and his family, hidden in the ark, escaped death and hell at the global flood, these consecrated people of good-will are to have a safe hiding under God’s protection at Armageddon in order to survive into His new world under Christ. Then they may go on to live forever.

3. Who will escape death and hell at Armageddon, and how?

“HONOR JEHOVAH WITH THY SUBSTANCE”

SINCE “the love of money is the root of all evil”, did the Israelites do evil when they sought Egyptian gold and silver at the time of the exodus? Were they grasping for loot, coveting after material wealth that might cause them to err from Jehovah’s paths and be pierced through with many sorrows? (1 Tim. 6:10) Was this last-minute "borrowing” from the Egyptians in actuality a tricky theft, since the Israelites did not expect to return to Egypt or to pay back the Egyptians? An inquiry into the motives of the Israelites exonerates them of any criminal guilt, clears them of any insatiable love of money in which future evil or sorrow might be rooted.

Recall the historical setting. The Israelites had been in Egypt for two hundred and fifteen years, and for about the last century of that time they had been heavily oppressed as unpaid slave labor. Now they were on the brink of freedom, release from Egyptian bondage, and Jehovah God determined that they would not depart empty-handed. “The children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: and the Lord gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required. And they spoiled the Egyptians.” (Ex. 12:35, 36) But instead of “borrowed” the margin says “demanded”, and several modern versions say “asked”. And instead of making it appear that the Egyptians “lent” these valuables the American Standard Version says that “they let them have what they asked”. The Israelites were merely collecting a fraction of their dues in back wages, and Jehovah God championed their just cause.

Did the Israelites show a selfish love for this acquired wealth and hoard it ? or speculate with it to double or triple it? No; about three months after they had collected this back pay they made heavy contributions to a Theocratic cause. “Moses spake unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, This is the thing which Jehovah commanded, saying, Take ye from among you an offering unto Jehovah ; whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it, Jehovah’s offering: gold, and silver, and brass. And they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing, and brought Jehovah’s offering, for the work of the tent of meeting, and for all the service thereof.” (Ex. 35: 4, 5, 21; 25:1-3, Am. Stan. Ver.) Not only material wealth but time and energy they also contributed to the work of the tabernacle. So generously did they give that the workers came to Moses and said: “The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work which Jehovah commanded to make.” The account continues: “And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing. For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much.”—Ex. 36:1-7, Am. Stan. Ver.

Hence to provide a place of Theocratic assembly the Israelites used their material substance, a part of which was what they had demanded from the Egyptians four months earlier. Some four hundred and sixty-five years later Israelites were again called upon to contribute toward construction of another assembly place, this time a temple to be built by Solomon in Jerusalem. Because they had set their affection on Jehovah’s worship and a place at which to perform it, David and the prominent men and the people generally “offered willingly to Jehovah”. To His profit? Let one of the chief contributors, King David, answer: “Thine, 0 Jehovah, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, 0 Jehovah, and thou art exalted as head above all. But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee.”—1 Chron. 29: 3, 6, 9,11,14, Am. Stan. Ver.

Five hundred years pass, and once more the Israelites are dipping into their substance to honor the Lord by helping to rebuild his true worship in Jerusalem. For seventy years the land had lain desolate, the temple razed to the ground. But now captivity to Babylon is history, and in this year 537 B.C. King Cyrus of Persia has proclaimed liberty to the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple of Jehovah. To those not returning to take active part in the reconstruction work Cyrus said: “Whoever is left in any place where he resides as an alien, let the men of his place aid him with silver and gold and goods and beasts of burden, as well as with voluntary offerings for the house of God which is in Jerusalem.” (Ezra 1:1-4, An Amer. Trans.) The Jews that remained behind contributed heavily in gold and silver, goods and beasts of burden, and even King Cyrus furthered the cause by returning the temple vessels taken from it by Nebuchadnezzar years before.

At the temple a place was provided for contributions, voluntary ones, whereat a person could give according to his ability without embarrassing publicity or self-advertisement. (Mark 12:41-44) Paul gathered funds on occasion for relief work and other Theocratic purposes. (1 Cor. 16:1-4; 2 Cor. 9:1-15) Such collections in the days of the nation of Israel and in apostolic times were Theocratic and blessed by God, but covetous men have seized upon the idea of money collections and perverted them to their own greed. The prophet Micah scored the 'priests that taught for hire and the prophets that divined for money’, and Isaiah condemned the 'false shepherds that as greedy dogs never had enough but always looked for gain from their quarter’. —Mie. 3:11; Isa. 56:11.

Modern religions of Christendom have likewise given the collection a sour note. Under the guise of different offerings the clergy pass the plate several times during their services. Some even charge admission to church. Many schemes are hatched to part the parishioners from their money, even gambling being stooped to. They commercialize God’s favors, selling prayers, indulgences, absolutions, and speeding the trip from “purgatory” to heaven for money consideration. Tickets to heaven are not bought with money. Christ Jesus showed how difficult it would be for a rich man to enter there. (Matt. 19:24) Why, think back to the event cited at the beginning of this article. Remember how generously the Israelites gave for the erection of the tabernacle in the wilderness? They gave so liberally that Moses had to call a halt to their offering; yet their contributions did not buy God’s favor and blessing. Their donations did not even buy them entrance into the Promised Land, for all of the grownups, aside from a few, were forbidden entrance because of their sinfulness in other matters. Their contributions did not gain for them absolution and divine grace.

Money has become the god of many, especially in these “last days”. The Bible does not cater to the rich, but says: “Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.” (Jas. 5:1-3) In the second chapter the disciple James condemned Christian congregations that were falling into the bad habit of showing partiality to the rich and dismissing the poor with belittling snootiness. Hoarded wealth will not deliver its owner in the “last days”, no more than did the gold and silver idolized by the Jews at the time of Jerusalem’s fall. Of this we read:

“All hands shall be feeble, and all knees shall be weak as water. They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads. They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be as an unclean thing; their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of Jehovah: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels; because it hath been the stumblingblock of their iniquity.” “Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of Jehovah’s wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he will make an end, yea, a terrible end, of all them that dwell in the land.” —Ezek. 7:17-19 and Zeph. 1:18, Am. Stan. Ver.

DIVINE FAVORS NOT BOUGHT

And though the Roman Catholic Hierarchy dispenses the office of cardinal with a high price tag attached to it and otherwise exacts money for what it claims to be favors from God, it cannot find any precedent for such religious commercializing in the case of the apostle Peter, often maligned as being the first pope. Peter acted just the opposite, as shown in the case of Simon, who sought to buy a gift of God. We read at Acts 8:18-21: “Now when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the holy spirit was given, he offered them money, saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay my hands, he may receive the holy spirit. But Peter said unto him, Thy silver perish with thee, because thou hast thought to obtain the gift of God with money. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter : for thy heart is not right before God.”—Am. Stan. Ver.

From the foregoing it is clear that money cannot buy God’s favors, cannot buy deliverance from Jehovah’s wrath in the “last days”. Yet contributions are to be made to organizations that are faithfully advancing the interests of Jehovah’s kingdom. With what benefit to the contributor? For one thing, he can thereby show wisdom in using his material goods, which would be an indication that he would also wisely use other possessions or qualities to Jehovah’s honor. This is shown at Luke 16: 9-11: “Use mammon, dishonest as it is, to make friends for yourselves, so that when you die they may welcome you to the eternal abodes. He who is faithful with a trifle is also faithful with a large trust, and he who is dishonest with a trifle is also dishonest with a large trust. So if you are not faithful with dishonest mammon, how can you ever be trusted with true Riches?” —Moffatt.

Other translations, such as the American Standard Version and An American Translation, render the text so as to refer to the failure of mammon or money rather than the death of the individual; but in either case the principle remains the same, namely, that wise use of material substance will gain friendly notice from God and Christ and indicate that since one faithfully uses money he may also be trusted with the true riches. Such true riches as the Kingdom interests, as the privileges of proving integrity toward God and sharing in His vindication. Money is a trifle in comparison with such riches; for does not God already own this material earth and its fullness, as well as the boundless heavens? Wise use of mammon will recommend us as recipients of true riches, which will in turn open the way for us to dwell eternally in Jehovah’s new world. So giving mammon is not enough; true riches must be wisely handled.

Again, the fact that money donation in itself is insufficient to gain salvation is clearly shown by Christ Jesus. On one occasion a young man approached Jesus and asked: “Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?” The climax of Jesus’ answer was, “Go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.” The young man departed sad, for he had many possessions. This shows two things: not only was it necessary for the young man to unselfishly use his mammon or money, but it was also necessary for him to then follow Jesus. That meant preaching the gospel of the Kingdom. Obviously, the wise use of his money was only the start; it must be followed up by preaching activity like that of Christ.—Matt. 19:16-22.

As an interesting and enlightening sidelight, notice how different from the position of Christ Jesus is that of Mansignor Fulton J. Sheen. When soliciting for millions of dollars for Catholic charities this high-powered, slick-tongued cleric is reported upon in the New York Times, March 28, 1949, as follows: “He said charity did not consist in 'giving up’ anything but in 'exchanging temporal wealth for spiritual wealth’. Those who benefit from the funds contributed to Catholic Charities, he explained, will become 'special intercessors—defense attorneys in the kingdom of God’ for persons who contribute to the appeal. ‘The Catholics of New York are not asked to give up $2,500,000,’ said Msgr. Sheen. 'Catholic Charities has no drive. It is conducting an exchange. This week saints are for sale. This is bargain week in the kingdom of God.’ ” But “saintship” is not for sale, Sheen’s fraudulent “bargain week” notwithstanding. New York Catholics cannot buy their way into the Kingdom, no more so than could the rich young man nineteen centuries ago.

As stated at Proverbs 3: 9, Christians can 'honor Jehovah with their substance’. (Am. Stan. Ver.) That is a part of their service to God—but only a part. They must prove their complete devotion to God and Christ, serving with all their heart, mind, soul and strength. This means not only wise and unselfish use of material goods, but faithful use of time and mental powers and physical energies. In addition to contributing financially toward the maintenance of halls or meeting-places as did the Israelites; in addition to sharing in the expense of expanding the gospel-preaching work in other lands as did the Jews that failed to return to Jerusalem in the days of Cyrus; in addition to aiding destitute brethren directly or through relief programs as did the early Christians under Paul’s oversight, Christians today press on in the footsteps of Christ Jesus, following the trail of Kingdom preaching blazed by him.

In none of these Theocratic requirements is Jehovah God grasping or greedy. Of those who have much, much is required; yet it does not increase the wealth of the great Owner of the universe. His gain is just as great from those who have little, of whom little is required, whether it be in material substance or time or energy. His rejoicing over our full and complete devotion is that it proves Satan a liar, who reproached God as being unable to have faithful men on earth unselfishly devoted to Him. “My son, be wise, and make my heart glad, that I may answer him that reproacheth me.” (Prov. 27:11) Hence while we can and should ‘honor the Lord with our substance’ according to our ability, we should not fall into the religious snare of thinking money will buy our salvation. Remember that tithing was not the only command to Israel under the Law; it was but one of many requirements. So our devotion to Jehovah now must be shown in many different ways to be full and complete. Above all, we must preach the gospel of the established Kingdom. And if in doing so our material possessions can be used to forward that work we can rejoice to thereby ‘honor Jehovah with our substance’.

FIELD EXPERIENCES

WITNESSING IN IRELAND

“During the past two months results in Athlone, the center of Ireland, have been joyful and give evidence that a good harvest will be reached in Eire in the near future. On learning that the Protestant clergyman had preached against us we visited him and enjoyed a Theocratic victory. Then he devoted his next two sermons in releasing a fiery diatribe against us which resulted in our being speedily rejected by almost all of the local Protestants. He threatened to tell the priest the Church of Ireland was in no way associated with Jehovah’s witnesses. Then came warnings from the priest; nevertheless, we have received an unexpected tolerance from the Roman Catholic population. There is more freedom here than in the towns of the south. Apart from my partner just escaping a kettle of boiling water and later a dishful of cold water, religious fanaticism had not been expressed in action of this nature. The court case at Cork has had repercussions far and wide, and in some cases back-calls on interested Catholics were made until fear forced a halt. Nevertheless, the good-will is there. Studies have been started, with prospects of more soon. The most advanced of these is with a young couple, the wife having been a Roman Catholic but now almost one of Jehovah’s witnesses. She daily preaches to the neighbors. The husband sees through religion and is highly pleased with his wife’s progress. He said he used to coax her to read the Bible but now it is unnecessary to coax her. In another case a Roman Catholic person said she had decided to take the Awake! subscription as it was better than the Digest.”

GOSPEL-PREACHING IN PRISON

“I would like to take this opportunity to tell about my visit with a person of good-will in the reformatory at La Grange, Ky., who wrote you asking how he might contact some of Jehovah’s witnesses. I called at the reformatory, and because of my being a minister, he and I both were given special privileges while visiting. He told me that he first came in contact with our work after his imprisonment about twelve months ago by getting a copy of 'Let God Be True’ from a fellow prisoner. Since then he has read the book through about twenty times along with 'The Kingdom Is at Hand’ and ‘The Truth Shall Make You Free'. Without having had outside contact with other witnesses for Jehovah, he has learned to conduct Bible studies, which he does with other prisoners, talks about the organization like a veteran, and has vowed that he will continue as one of Jehovah’s witnesses after his release. It is marvelous the way that Jehovah works. I shall continue to keep in contact with him.”

PREACHING IN THE HOSPITAL

The following is an experience of one of the Lord’s “other sheep” who is now an inmate of the General Asylum of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, for disabled people. The hospital is owned by the government but under the direction of Catholic nuns. For some time the young man involved in this experience has been studying the publications and is a publisher of the truth in the only way he is able, that is, from his bedside. For a long time he was cared for in his mother’s house, but, due to a fight with a sister (nun) of his foster father over the truth, his foster father demanded that he be removed to the government hospital. He relates this experience had in the hospital:

“I have tried to give the message to my companions in this hospital by giving out small booklets without letting the nuns know, for I did not wish them to stop the work. I have four men who now like to converse with me about the Bible, and one morning one of these elderly men was reading the booklet Religion Reaps the Whirlwind. The nun saw him before he had a chance to hide it and she came up demanding to know what he was reading. He told her it was just a story, but she insisted on seeing it and reached for it as he tried to keep it away from her. When she saw the cover of the booklet she became very angry and without a word tore the booklet into shreds. Then she turned cn this timid old man in her anger and demanded to know where he had gotten it. He murmured out my name. The nun came over to my bedside with her face very pale. She had thought all the time I was a strong Catholic, but now said, ‘So you’re a Protestant! Well, be one of them but don’t push the rest down to hell. I am going to transfer you into the ward with the insane and then you won’t be able to teach your crazy ideas to these people in here.’ The discussion that followed lasted over two hours and I do not know yet what I will have to face because of my stand for the truth before her. I did not say much to her for a while because her words were silly twaddle, but when my chance came to speak I was ready and willing with my Bible handy. My palsy then began to start and made me feel upset, but I was strengthened by Jehovah’s grace and we cited to each other Bible texts. When she could not defeat me she became angry and she told me that I was godless and excommunicated unless I would turn back to Catholicism. She told me she was going to send the chaplain to me since I knew so much about the Bible and he would give me one of her books to read. Then with a last warning she informed me, ‘Keep away from these Gringos’ Protestant teachings and ask the Holy Virgin’s forgiveness for the sake of your health.’”

¹

At Job 17:16, where pit is used; and at Hosea 13:14, where death is used in the first of two occurrences of Sheol in the verse.

²

Pss. 48:16 and 54:16. But Psalms 49:15 and 55 :15 in the King James Version.

t Region de los muertos, in Spanish.

t Job 24:19; Psalms 6: 6; 9:18; 17: 6; 29: 4; 48 :15; 54:16; 88 : 49; 114:3; Proverbs 5:5; 7:27; 15:11,24; 23:14; 27:20; 30:16; Canticles 8:6; Isaiah 5 :14, etc. According to the Douay Version.