The Pit 

It's the place where the body is buried to return to the earth. This is the grave.

• Ezekiel 31:14-16 "For they have all been consigned to death, to the depths of the earth, among the mortals who descend to the Pit.’ This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘On the day it was brought down to Sheol, I caused mourning"

• Ezekiel 32:18 "Son of man, wail for the multitudes of Egypt, and consign her and the daughters of the mighty nations to the depths of the earth with those who descend to the Pit"

• Isaiah 14:15 "But you will be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit."

The abode of the dead (Sheol) or depth of the pit

This is the underworld where the souls of the dead reside. They enter this realm immediately after their burial, and will remain there until the resurrection and final judgment. The Bible makes it clear that only the souls of the ungodly and wicked descend to Sheol.

• Ezekiel 32:26-27 "Meshech and Tubal are there with all their multitudes, with their graves all around them. All of them are uncircumcised, slain by the sword, because they spread their terror in the land of the living. They do not lie down with the fallen warriors of old, who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war, whose swords were placed under their heads, whose shields rested on their bones, although the terror of the mighty was once in the land of the living."

• Psalm 31:17 “O LORD, let me not be ashamed, for I have called on You. Let the wicked be put to shame; let them lie silent in Sheol."

• Psaumes 9:17 "The wicked will return to Sheol—all the nations who forget God."

• Job 24:19 “As drought and heat consume the melting snow, so Sheol steals those who have sinned.”

When a righteous person dies, his soul does not go to the depths of the earth, but is elevated to the Kingdom of Heaven.

• Proverbs 15:24 “The path of life leads upward for the wise, that he may avoid going down to Sheol."

Contrary to popular belief, these souls who go to the Abode of the Dead do not rest peacefully until the resurrection. They are locked up in prisons where they will be tormented while awaiting their final judgment, which will determine the degree of their eternal punishment in Gehenna (hell or the lake of fire that never goes out).

• Isaiah 24:22 "They will be gathered together like prisoners in a pit. They will be confined to a dungeon and punished after many days."

• 1 Peter 3:18-20 "He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit, in whom He also went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built."

• Isaiah 5:14-15 "Therefore Sheol has enlarged itself And opened its mouth beyond measure; Their glory and their multitude and their pomp, And he who is jubilant, shall descend into it. And the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled"

• Proverbs 7:27 "Her house is the road to Sheol, descending to the chambers of death."

The Book of Enoch, which appears in the Ethiopian Bible but was removed from the Catholic biblical canon in the 4th century, gives a detailed description of the abode of the dead.

Enoch 22: 1-14

1. And from there, I went to another place, and he showed me in the west a large and high mountain, and a hard rock, and four beautiful places.

2. And inside, it was deep, wide, and very smooth. How smooth is that which rolls, and deep and dark to look at!

3. Then Raphael, one of the Holy Angels who was with me, answered me, and said to me: "These beautiful places are there so that the spirits, the souls of the dead, might be gathered into them. For them they were created; so that here they might gather the souls of the sons of men.

4. And these places they made, where they will keep them until the Day of Judgment, and until their appointed time, and that appointed time will be long, until the great judgment comes upon them.

5. And I saw the spirits of the sons of men who were dead and their voices reached Heaven and complained.

6. Then I asked Raphael, the Angel who was with me, and said to him: "Whose is this spirit, whose voice thus reaches Heaven and complains?"

7. And he answered me, and said to me, saying: "This spirit is the one that came out of Abel, whom Cain, his brother, killed. And he will complain about him until his offspring are destroyed from the face of the Earth, and from amongst the offspring of men, his offspring perish."

8. Then I asked about him, and about judgment on all, and I said: "Why is one separated from another?" 

9. And he answered me, and said to me: "These three places where made, in order that they might separate the spirits of the dead. And thus the souls of the righteous have been separated; this is the spring of water, and on it the light.

10. Likewise, a place has been created for sinners, when they die, and are buried in the earth, and judgment has not come upon them during their life.

11. And here their souls will be separated for this great torment, until the Great Day of Judgment and Punishment and Torment for those who curse, forever, and of vengeance on their souls. And there he will bind them forever. Verily, He is, from the beginning of the world.

12. And thus a place has been separated for the souls of those who complain, and give information about their destruction, about when they were killed, in the days of the sinners.

13. Thus a place has been created, for the souls of men who are not righteous, but sinners, accomplished in wrongdoing, and with the wrongdoers will be their lot. But their souls will not be killed on the day of judgment, nor will they rise from here."

14. Then I blessed the Lord of Glory, and said: "Blessed be my Lord, the Lord of Glory and Righteousness, who rules everything forever."

The 1st book of the prophet Ezra was partially canonized, but the 2nd and 3rd books were not included in the biblical canon. The second book reveals in detail the condition of the soul of the ungodly immediately after death.

2 Esdras 7: 78-87

7:78  Now, concerning death, the teaching is: When the decisive decree has gone forth from the Most High YAHWEH that a man shall die, as the spirit leaves the body to return again to HIM who gave it, first of all it adores the splendor of the Most High YAHWEH.

7:79  And if it is one of those who have shown scorn and have not kept the way of the Most High YAHWEH, and who have despised HIS Torah, and who have hated those who fear YAHWEH,

7:80  Such spirits shall not enter into habitations, but shall immediately wander about in torments, ever grieving and sad, in seven ways.

7:81  The first way, because they have scorned the Torah of the Most High.

7:82  The second way, because they cannot now make a good repentance that they may live.

7:83  The third way, they shall see the reward laid up for those who have trusted the Covenants of the Most High YAHWEH.

7:84  The fourth way, they shall consider the torment laid up for themselves in the last day.

7:85  The fifth way, they shall see how the habitations of the others are guarded by angels in profound quiet.

7:86  The sixth way, they shall see how some of them will pass over into torments.

7:87  The seventh way, which is worse than all the ways that have been mentioned, because they shall utterly waste away in confusion and be consumed with shame, and shall wither with fear at seeing the splendor of the Most High YAHWEH before whom they sinned while they were alive, and before whom they are to be judged in the last time.

May the Holy Spirit guide you in understanding this message.

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