"Hell" Is Not a False Friend in the KJV

The error in Ward’s claims about the word hell differs from those in his other videos in a very significant way. Ward’s entire video on this word can be refuted with a single exercise to expose his confirmation bias. Ward claims that the word hell describes a place where both the righteous and the wicked go after death before being ushered into either Heaven or eternal torment. About twelve minutes into the video, Ward said, “Here’s the key point: this is a place to which the righteous can also go. Presumably, it is the intermediate state. That’s really the key here.” Ward’s entire argument for hell being a “false friend” rests on his claim that the KJV translators sometimes used hell to refer to a place where both the righteous and the wicked go after death.

Ward walked his viewers through all five of his steps for discovering a “false friend,” but there’s another crucially important method of studying words in the Bible that Ward often neglects. That method is to simply look up and read every verse where a given word is used. Had Ward engaged in this simple yet foundational process, he would have seen just how silly his claims about the word hell actually are.
 
Here is the complete list of all fifty-four verses where the word hell is used in the KJV. Ward claims that this word was sometimes used by the translators to describe a place where the righteous went after death, so I’ve used bold type to indicate all of the verses that use the word hell to describe a place where a righteous man went after his death. Read through the list and see if you notice a pattern that Ward missed.
 
Deut. 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.
 
2 Sam. 22:6 The sorrows of hell compassed me about; the snares of death prevented me.
 
Job 11:8 It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know?
 
Job 26:6 Hell is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering.
 
Psa. 9:17 The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.
 
Psa. 16:10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
 
Psa. 18:5 The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me.
 
Psa. 55:15 Let death seize upon them, and let them go down quick into hell: for wickedness is in their dwellings, and among them.
 
Psa. 86:13 For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell.
 
Psa. 116:3 The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow.
 
Psa. 139:8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
 
Pro. 5:5 Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.
 
Pro. 7:27 Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.
 
Pro. 9:18 But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell.
 
Pro. 15:11 Hell and destruction are before the LORD: how much more then the hearts of the children of men?
 
Pro. 15:24 The way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from hell beneath.
 
Pro. 23:14 Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.
 
Pro. 27:20 Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.
 
Isa. 5:14 Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.
 
Isa. 14:9 Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.
 
Isa. 14:15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
 
Isa. 28:15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves.
 
Isa. 28:18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
 
Isa. 57:9 And thou wentest to the king with ointment, and didst increase thy perfumes, and didst send thy messengers far off, and didst debase thyself even unto hell.
 
Eze. 31:16 I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to hell with them that descend into the pit: and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, shall be comforted in the nether parts of the earth.
 
Eze. 31:17 They also went down into hell with him unto them that be slain with the sword; and they that were his arm, that dwelt under his shadow in the midst of the heathen.
 
Eze. 32:21 The strong among the mighty shall speak to him out of the midst of hell with them that help him: they are gone down, they lie uncircumcised, slain by the sword.
 
Eze. 32:27 And they shall not lie with the mighty that are fallen of the uncircumcised, which are gone down to hell with their weapons of war: and they have laid their swords under their heads, but their iniquities shall be upon their bones, though they were the terror of the mighty in the land of the living.
 
Amos 9:2 Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down.
 
Jon. 2:2 And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.
 
Hab. 2:5 Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people.
 
Matt. 5:22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
 
Matt. 5:29 And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
 
Matt. 5:30 And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
 
Matt. 10:28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
 
Matt. 11:23 And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.
 
Matt. 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
 
Matt. 18:9 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.
 
Matt. 23:15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
 
Matt. 23:33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
 
Mark 9:43 And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched.
 
Mark 9:45 And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched.
 
Mark 9:47 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.
 
Luke 10:15 And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, shalt be thrust down to hell.
 
Luke 12:5 But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.
 
Lk. 16:23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
 
Acts 2:27 Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
 
Acts 2:31 He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.
 
Jas. 3:6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.
 
2 Pet. 2:4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment.
 
Rev. 1:18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
 
Rev. 6:8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
 
Rev. 20:13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
 
Rev. 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
 
Do you see the pattern? There are only three verses which speak of a righteous man descending into hell after death, and all three of those verses are talking about the death of Christ. But even though Christ is eternally righteous, He did not die the death of a righteous man. He died in our place, which means He died the death of a wicked man. Thus, even these three verses are speaking about the death of a wicked man, and now the pattern is absolute. There is not one single time that the word hell is used in the KJV to refer to a place where righteous men go after death. Every time the KJV uses the word hell, it refers to the place where wicked men go after their death, not righteous men.
 
Ward may argue that the word hell enjoys a much broader usage in other works of English literature, but that has no effect on its use by the KJV translators. In the broader realm of English literature, hell has been used in many different views of the afterlife, some of which include the idea that the righteous and the wicked have a common destination immediately following their death. This is largely due to the use of hell in translations of various pagan mythologies. It is true that the word hell has been used many times in English literature to describe the immediate afterlife of both the righteous and the wicked. It is even used that way in some of our contemporary literature, but that is not how it is used in the KJV.
 
In the KJV, the word hell always means exactly what the average modern reader assumes it means. It is always a reference to the tortuous abode of the wicked after their death.

Click here to read about more words that are not "false friends" in the KJV.