I took a good look at how the Hebrew word "sheol" was translated in the KJV. About half the time, it was rendered as "grave" or "pit."
And I would agree that in some cases it would be better to simply put the word sheol in there, or, add a footnote:
Genesis 37:35
New English Translation
35 All his sons and daughters stood by[a] him to console him, but he refused to be consoled. “No,” he said, “I will go to the grave mourning my son.” So Joseph’s[c] father wept for him.
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Footnotes
Genesis 37:35 tn Heb “arose, stood”; which here suggests that they stood by him in his time of grief.
Genesis 37:35 tn Heb “and he said, ‘Indeed I will go down to my son mourning to Sheol.’” Sheol was viewed as the place where departed spirits went after death.
Genesis 37:35 tn Heb “his”; the referent (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
The fact remains that most Bible Students do not get confused because of "bad translation.
You did not stop at a translation, you looked at the original word. That is how we understand Scripture. Not from the translation only, that is just a starting point for every student that wants to uderstand Scripture better.
And these so-called "bad translations" do not confuse people who study all of the relevant passages concerning Everlasting Punishment. Because it is from the context in which the words are used that give us the meaning. The Bible often defines itself in the commentary it gives us.
About half the time it got turned into "hell."
Deu 32:22 For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.
Is God speaking about a physical grave here?
No, if that were the case then we would likely be reading the word
qᵊḇûrâ, wouldn't we?
But because sheol is used, shouldn't that be a clue that we need to understand this as something other than a physical grave?
The following verse is commentary:
Deu 32:24 They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust.
The preceding verses are commentary:
Deuteronomy 32:17-22
King James Version
17 They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.
18 Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee.
19 And when the Lord saw it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters.
20 And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith.
21 They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
22 For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.
The concept we understand as "Hell" seems fitting in this context.
What word would you use? What would make it a better translation?
Continued...