"Hell" Was Never in the Original Bible. Here's What Was

The word "hell" appears dozens of times in some English Bibles and barely at all in others. That inconsistency alone should raise a flag. But when you look at what's actually underneath it — the original Hebrew and Greek words that kept getting translated as "hell" — the problem goes much deeper than inconsistency. ⬇️ Support the channel: https://ko-fi.com/zacknusser There are four words hiding behind that one English translation. Sheol, the Hebrew word for the realm of the dead where everyone goes — righteous and wicked alike. Hades, its Greek equivalent, used the same way throughout the New Testament. Tartarus, a specific pit from Greek mythology used once in 2 Peter to describe imprisoned angels. And Gehenna, the Valley of Hinnom just outside Jerusalem — a real place with a dark history that Jesus used as a symbol of divine judgment. Four words. Three genuinely different concepts. None of them describing the fiery eternal torture chamber that most of Christian theology has been built around. And one English word that flattened all of them into something the original authors never described. This episode traces where the English word "hell" actually came from, why early translators reached for it, how the King James Version used it 54 times for four completely different words, and what happened when modern translations partially corrected the problem — leaving readers with a new layer of confusion that produced an entire theological framework nobody put in the text. We also look at why this matters beyond a word study. Every theological problem that the traditional doctrine of hell creates — how can a loving God torture people forever, how is eternal punishment proportionate to a finite life, did God create people he knew would end up there — every single one of those questions only exists because of a doctrine built on a word that doesn't mean what anyone thought it meant. This channel exists to help revive the original Way that Jesus taught — the living, transformative, kingdom-centered gospel that has been buried under nearly 2,000 years of theological baggage, institutional religion, mistranslation, and inherited assumption. We explore the Kingdom of God, Christian universalism and universal salvation, the biblical case for apokatastasis, deconstruction and reconstruction of faith, the restoration of original Christianity and the Way as Jesus taught it, Bible translation problems, and the bad doctrine and theology that has kept so many people from experiencing the unconditional love of God. Our purpose is simple: to help people encounter the real Jesus, understand the real gospel, and step into the Kingdom of God right now — not as a destination after death, but as a present reality that transforms everything. Because when people truly understand that God is love — not primarily a judge, not an angry deity requiring appeasement, but unconditional, inexhaustible love — everything changes. And as more people step into that reality, we believe it begins to usher in the Kingdom of God and the New Earth that scripture promises. If you've ever felt like something was missing in what you were taught — or like the Jesus you read about in the gospels doesn't quite match the one you heard about in church — you're in the right place. 🔔 Subscribe to stay connected as we work together to revive the original Way. 📱 Follow along: TikTok:   / zacknusser   Instagram:   / zacknusser   X: https://x.com/zacknusser Facebook:   / zack-nusser-61578072818565   #RethinkingHell #BibleTranslation #universalsalvation #ChristianUniversalism