Sheol came to be thought of as a place of waiting, where a person’s soul could either be purified and sent on to Gan Eden or sent for punishment in Gehenna. Jews understand this to mean that ...

Gehenna: A Valley South of Jerusalem A valley ... uses the word hades to translate the Hebrew word “sheol.” Sheol in the Hebrew Bible is not necessarily a place of judgment.

Gehenna developed as an idea of a place of punishment for those who had lived immoral lives. It is the Jewish equivalent of the Christian Hell. As these concepts developed, Sheol came to be ...