The Old Testament bears no mention of hell fire as punishment for our sins. Rather, it refers to Sheol. As is referenced throughout the Bible.
The concept of sheol in many passages of the OT means much more than just a grave. For example,
Psalms 16:10-11
10 For You will not abandon my soul to [
i]Sheol;
Nor will You [
j]allow Your [
k]Holy One to [
l]undergo decay.
11 You will make known to me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.
Specifically, this includes the spiritual world, to which the grave is merely the entrance.
Psalms 9:17
17 The wicked will [
m]return to [
n]Sheol,
Even all the nations who forget God.
Since death is the soul's point of departure from the body, there is more involved in hell than the body's burial in a grave.
Deuteronomy 32:22
22 For a fire is kindled in My anger,
And burns to the lowest part of [
f]Sheol,
And consumes the earth with its yield,
And sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.
Graves contain one level but here there is a lower level which describes a worst state than just dead.
Daniel 12:2
2 Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace
and everlasting [
a]contempt.
Looks familiar? (Matt. 25:46)
Isaiah 66:22-24
22 For just as the new heavens and the new earth
Which I make will endure before Me, declares the Lord,
So your offspring and your name will endure.
23 And it shall be from new moon to new moon
And from sabbath to sabbath,
All [
a]mankind will come to bow down before Me, says the Lord.
24 Then they will go forth and look
On the corpses of the men
Who have [
b]transgressed against Me.
For their worm will not die
And their fire will not be quenched;
And they will be an abhorrence to all [
c]mankind.
That's a vivid description of hell matching John's description is Revelation.
How about some intertestamental Jewish belief about hell?
4 Maccabees
10:11 but you, because of your impiety and bloodthirstiness, will undergo unceasing torments."
12:12 Because of this, justice has laid up for you intense and eternal fire and tortures, and these throughout all time will never let you go.
13:15 for great is the struggle of the soul and the danger of eternal torment lying before those who transgress the commandment of God.