The Greek Equivalent of Hebrew Words

As we now transition to the Greek, we have an important observation required to support our old belief that needs to be examined:

"Words used by pagans to describe an immortal soul or the abode of conscious departed souls are never used in Scripture to refer to man; rather Scripture uses carefully selected words that describe precisely that man is mortal."

Hades and Psuche

Let's look at a few examples of some Greek words (hades and psuche) used by pagan authors to describe what we formerly thought were simply pagan thoughts:

Hades

Aeschylus: Agememnon 1525: Yet, as he has suffered-worthy prize of worthy deed-for what he did to my sweet flower, shoot sprung from him, the sore-wept Iphigenia, let him make no great boasts in the halls of Hades, since with death dealt him by the sword he had paid for what he first began.

Aeschylus: Prometheus Bound 152: Oh if only he had hurled me below the earth, yes beneath Hades, the entertainer of the dead, into impassable Tartarus, and had ruthlessly fastened me in fetters no hand can lose, so that neither god nor any other might have gloated over this agony I feel! But, now, a miserable plaything of the winds, I suffer pains to delight my enemies.

Pseudo-Apollodorus: Library 2.5.12: A twelfth labour imposed on Hercules was to bring Cerberus from Hades.

Pseudo-Apollodorus: Library e.2.1: Tantalus is punished in Hades by having a stone impending over him, by being perpetually in a lake and seeing at his shoulders on either side trees with fruit growing beside the lake. The water touches his jaws, but when he would take a draught of it, the water dries up; and when he would partake of the fruits, the trees with the fruits are lifted by winds as high as the clouds. Some say that he is thus punished because he babbled to men the mysteries of the gods, and because he attempted to share ambrosia with his fellows.

These "pagan" writers describe Hades as a place in which conscious souls experience results of their life on earth. Those who do evil are punished in Hades.

Psuche

Plato: Laws 959b: is nothing else then the soul, while the body is a semblance which attends on each of us, it being well said that the bodily corpses are images of the dead, but that which is the real self of each of us, and which we term the immortal soul (psuchen), departs to the presence of other gods, there (as the ancestral law declares) to render an account,--a prospect to be faced with courage by the good, but with uttermost dread by the evil.

Plato: Timaeus 43a: as if meaning to pay them back, and the portions so taken they cemented together; but it was not with those indissoluble bonds wherewith they themselves were joined that they fasted together the portions but with numerous pegs, invisible for smallness; and thus they constructed out of them all each several body, and with bodies subject to inflow and outflow they bound the revolutions of the immortal Soul (psuches). The souls, then, being thus bound with a might river neither mastered it nor were mastered, but with violence they rolled along and were rolled along themselves…

Plato, one of the most famous "pagan" philosophers describes the souls as immortal.

In Transition

After the conquests of Alexander brought Egypt under Macedonian rule, the new city of Alexandria became a place where the Greek language was the medium of written and spoken communication among the variety of people living there.

One writer named Aristeas indicated that Ptolemy Philadelphus was encouraged to acquire copies of the sacred books of the Jews for inclusion in the Alexandrian library. He sent a delegation to the high priest Eleazar to request a copy of the books and seventy-two interpreters, six from each tribe. It was thus that about 285 BC the Septuagint was (being) written. Usually abbreviated LXX, this Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures acts as a transition between the Hebrew and Greek, showing the Greek words the Jews believed best translated the meaning of the Hebrew words.

Many quotations of the OT by NT writers were taken straight out of the LXX. Some believe that the LXX was the manuscript that Jesus read from in Nazareth (Luke 4:16-20).

Here are the same verses sited previously in the Old Testament that contained both nephesh and Sheol in the same verse-now cited from the LXX (note the cited Psalms chapters are decremented by 1):

Ps 15:10 because thou wilt not leave my soul (psuche) in hell (hades), neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

Ps 29:3 O Lord, thou hast brought up my soul (psuchen) from Hades (hades), thou hast delivered me from among them that do down to the pit.

Ps 48:15 But God shall deliver my soul (psuchen) from the power of Hades (hades), when he shall receive me. Pause.

Ps 85:13 For thy mercy is great toward me; and thou hast delivered my soul (psuchen) from the lowest hell (hades)

Ps 87:3 For my soul (psuche) is filled with troubles, and my life has drawn nigh to Hades

Ps 88:48 What man is there who shall live, and not see death? shall any one deliver his soul (psuchen) from the hand of Hades (hades)?

Pr 23:14 For thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul (psuchen) from death (thanatou).

Is 5:14 Therefore hell (hades) has enlarged its desire (psuchen) and opened its mouth without ceasing: and her glorious and great, and her rich and her pestilent men shall go down into it.

Hab 2:5 But the arrogant man and the scorner, the boastful man, shall not finish anything; who has enlarged his desire (psuchen) as the grave (hades), and like death (thanatos) he is never satisfied, and he will gather to himself all the nations, and will receive to himself all the peoples.

Here is the only place in the OT that nephesh and qber / kever (grave, sepulchre, tomb) appear in the same verse, now cited from the LXX:

Nu 19:18 And a clean man shall take hyssop, and dip it into the water, and sprinkle it upon the house, and the furniture, and all the souls (psuchas) that are therein, and upon him that touched the human bone, or the slain man (traumariou), or the corpse (tethnekotos), or the tomb (mnematos).

Bios not Translated from Nephesh

The translators of the Septuagint never used "bios," the Greek word for physical life, as the equivalent for nephesh. Although "bios" is used many times in the Septuagint, its lack of use as the equivalent for nephesh must be viewed as a deliberate choice on their part.

Hades and Sheol Equivalent

In addition, numerous OT verses are cited within the NT itself. These references show the almost universal substitution of Hades for Sheol and psuche for nephesh.

Mt 11:23 And you, Capernaum, who "have been exalted to the heaven, you will be thrown down to Hades." For if the powerful acts happening in you had taken place in Sodom, it would remain until today. Isa. 14:13, 15

Mt 11:29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, because I am meek and lowly in heart, "and you will find rest to your souls (psuche)." Jer. 6:16

Mt 22:37 And Jesus said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul (psuche), and with all your mind." Deut. 6:5

Mr 12:30 and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul (psuche)" and with all your mind, "and with all your strength." This is the first commandment. Deut. 6:4, 5

Mr 12:33 "and to love Him from all the heart", and from all the understanding, "and from all the soul (psuche), and from all the strength;" Deut. 6:4, 5 and "to love one's neighbor as oneself" Lev. 19:18 is more than all the burnt offerings and the sacrifices.

Lu 10:15 And you, Capernaum, were you not exalted to the heaven? "You will be thrust down to Hades!" Isa. 14:13, 15

Lu 10:27 And answering, he said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul (psuche), and with all your strength," and with all your mind, and "your neighbor as yourself." Deut. 6:5; Lev. 19:18

Ac 2:27 because You will not leave My soul (psuche) in Hades, nor will You give Your Holy One to see corruption. LXX-Psa. 15:10; Mt-Psa. 16:10

Ac 2:31 foreseeing, he spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, "that His soul (psuche) was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh (sarx) see corruption." LXX-Psa. 15:10; Mt-Psa. 16:10

Ac 7:14 And sending, Joseph called his father Jacob and all his kindred, "seventy five" "souls (psuche)" "in all". Gen. 46:27

Ro 11:3 Lord, "they killed Your prophets," "and they dug down Your altars," "and only I am left, and they seek my life. (psuche)" 1 Kg. 19:10

1Co 15:45 So also it has been written, "The" first "man", Adam, "became a living soul (psuche);" the last Adam a life-giving Spirit. Gen. 2:7

1Co 15:55 "O death, where is your sting? Hades, where is your victory?" Hos. 13:14

Heb 6:19 which we have as an anchor of the soul (psuche), both certain and sure, and entering into the inner side of the veil, Lev. 16:12

Heb 10:38 "But the just shall live by faith;" "and if he draws back," "My soul (psuche) is not pleased in him." Hab. 2:4

In summary, I believe we can conclude that such pagan words as Hades and psuche were not only used in the NT, but that they were chosen by the Jews to express in Greek the meaning of the Hebrew words nephesh and Sheol. These Greek words came with all their meaning (pagan baggage) and were used by intelligent people to express ideas that God wanted expressed.

Let's talk about this concept of "pagan immortal souls" and such. The very earliest literature including the "Egyptian Book of the Dead," "The Tibetan Book of the Dead," and the "Vedas" all describe life after death. Archeological and literary evidence is nearly unanimous that life after death was taken as a given in every culture. All through history the belief in an afterlife is so universal that the few, such as Epictetus, who denied it were viewed as an aberration. To claim that the meanings attached to psuche and hades are of pagan origin is difficult to sustain; the concepts are universal from "cave men" to modern "movers and shakers."

I believe we can conclude that the authors of Scripture did not carefully avoid "pagan" words that carried meanings that were not approved by God. Rather, these "pagan" words expressed exactly the meaning the authors' intended.

Next, let's look at how death was viewed and expressed in the New Testament.

Death in the New Testament

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