All the dead go down to Sheol, and there they lie in sleep together–whether good or evil, rich or poor, slave or free (Job 3:11-19). It is described as a region "dark and deep," "the Pit," and "the land of forgetfulness," cut off from both God and human life above (Pss. 6:5; 88:3-12). Though in some texts Yahweh's power can reach down to Sheol (Ps. 139:8), the dominant idea is that the dead are abandoned forever. This idea of Sheol is negative in contrast to the world of life and light above, but there is no idea of judgment or of reward and punishment. If one faces extreme circumstances of suffering in the realm of the living above, as did Job, it can even be seen as a welcome relief from pain–see the third chapter of Job. But basically it is a kind of "nothingness," an existence that is barely existence at all, in which a "shadow" or "shade" of the former self survives (Ps. 88:10).
This rather bleak (or comforting, depending on your point of view) understanding of the future (or non-future) of the individual at death is one that prevails throughout most of the Hebrew Bible. It is found throughout the Pentateuch (the Books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy), and it runs through the books of history, poetry, and prophecy (from Joshua through Malachi) with few exceptions. Those exceptions, however, are noteworthy. The most obvious is the infamous account of the seance in which King Saul has the "witch" (or medium) of Endor conjure up the spirit of the dead prophet Samuel. The narrative is fascinatingly realistic. The medium asks Saul, "Whom shall I bring up for you?" Saul replies, "Bring up Samuel for me" (1 Sam. 28:11). What follows is worth quoting in full:
The king said to her, "Have no fear; what do you see?" And the woman said to Saul, "I see a god (elohim) coming up out of the earth." He said to her, "What is his appearance?" And she said, "An old man wrapped in a robe." And Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground, and did obeisance. Then Samuel said to Saul, "Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?" (I Sam. 28:13-15) (my emphasis)
Saul's intent in trying to contact Samuel was to consult him regarding the wisdom of going into battle against the Philistines. Samuel appears to him in bodily form and gives him a clear prediction of what would befall him, just as he would have done in his prophetic ministry while still alive, he clearly knows the future, even though he has departed below, to Sheol.
Here the dead (at least Samuel) are viewed as "gods" of sorts, resting below in Sheol, but potentially capable of "coming back"–after being "disturbed"–and participating in the life of the living to the extent of even knowing the future. The practice of consulting the spirits of the dead was strictly forbidden in both the Torah and Prophets, but it obviously went on persistently (see Deut. 18:11; Isa. 8:19, 29:4). Throughout this period Israelites apparently thought that the dead could be consulted on behalf of the living. This indicates that their view of the state of the dead in Sheol below was not entirely static. Although generally pictured "at rest," such spirits could assume special power and still have verbal intercourse with the living world above. Some have also noted as exceptions texts such as Psalms 73:18-26 and 49:13-15, which contrast the fate of the wicked as perishing in Sheol with that of the righteous, who will somehow be "ransomed" from its power. These texts are impossible to date with any certainty, and they might reflect some beginning "hints" of an idea of a resurrection hope for the departed righteous. If so, they probably come from the late Persian period. But even these texts lack a clear affirmation of resurrection of the dead. They might reflect the mere notion of God saving one from Sheol, i.e., rescuing from danger, sickness, and prolonging life. This is clearly the sense of passages like Psalms 22:19-24 and 103:1-5, Isaiah 38:10-20, and Jonah 2:1-9. It is only in certain late portions of the Hebrew Bible, and in sections of the Apocrypha, that we find the beginning expressions of any kind of an actual "future" for the individual beyond death. These will be discussed later in this chapter.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Christian Hell (Reality)
Hell, in Christian beliefs, is a place or a state in which the souls of the unsaved will suffer the consequences of sin. The Christian doctrine of hell derives from the teaching of the New Testament, where Hell is typically described using the Greek words Gehenna or Tartarus. Unlike Hades, Sheol, or Purgatory it is eternal, and those damned to hell are without hope. In the New Testament, it is described as the place or state of punishment after death or last judgment for those who have rejected Jesus.[1] In many classical and popular depictions it is also the abode of Satan and of evil spirits.[2]
Hell is generally defined as the eternal fate of unrepentant sinners after this life.[3] Hell's character is inferred from biblical teaching, which has often been understood literally.[3] Souls are said to pass into hell by God's irrevocable judgment, either immediately after death (particular judgment) or in the general judgment.[3] Modern theologians generally describe hell as the logical consequence of the soul using its free will to reject the will of God.[3] It is considered compatible with God's justice and mercy because God will not interfere with the soul's free choice.[3]
In some older English translations of the Bible (such as the KJV), the word "hell" is used to translate certain words such as sheol (Hebrew) and hades (Greek). These words do not typically refer to the place of eternal punishment, but to the underworld or temporary abode of the dead.
The New Testament depicts "hell", the place of eternal punishment, in a variety of ways. The most common term used for "hell" in the original Greek is γεεννα (gehenna), a direct loan of Hebrew ge-hinnom. The term is, however, found almost exclusively in the synoptic gospels.[8][9][10] Gehenna is most frequently described as a place of fiery torment (eg. Matthew 5:22, 18:8-9; Mark 9:43-49) although other passages mention darkness and "weeping and gnashing of teeth" (eg. Matthew 8:12; 22:13).[9]
Besides this teaching in the synoptic gospels, the concept of hell is found in other parts of the NT although the term gehenna is not used. The Johannine writings refer to the destiny of the wicked in terms of "perishing", "death" and "condemnation" or "judgment". St. Paul speaks of "wrath" and "everlasting destruction" (cf. Romans 2:7-9; 2 Thessalonians 1:9), while the general epistles use a range of terms and images including "raging fire" (Hebrews 10:27), "destruction" (2 Peter 3:7), "eternal fire" (Jude 7) and "blackest darkness" (Jude 13). Most biblical scholars believe this to be a symbol of eternal separation from God and God's presence. The book of Revelation contains the image of a "lake of fire" and "burning sulphur" where "the devil, the beast, and false prophets" will be "tormented day and night for ever and ever" (Revelation 20:10) along with those who worship the beast or receive its mark (Revelation 14:11).[11]
The New Testament also uses the Greek word hades, usually to refer to the temporary abode of the dead (eg. Acts 2:31; Revelation 20:13).[6] Only one passage describes hades as a place of torment, the parable of Lazarus and Dives (Luke 16:19-31). Jesus here depicts a wicked man suffering fiery torment in hades, which is contrasted with the bosom of Abraham, and explains that it is impossible to cross over from one location to the other. Some scholars believe that this parable reflects the intertestamental Jewish view of hades (or sheol) as containing separate divisions for the wicked and righteous.[6][11] In Revelation 20:13-14 hades is itself thrown into the "lake of fire" after being emptied of the dead.
Hell is generally defined as the eternal fate of unrepentant sinners after this life.[3] Hell's character is inferred from biblical teaching, which has often been understood literally.[3] Souls are said to pass into hell by God's irrevocable judgment, either immediately after death (particular judgment) or in the general judgment.[3] Modern theologians generally describe hell as the logical consequence of the soul using its free will to reject the will of God.[3] It is considered compatible with God's justice and mercy because God will not interfere with the soul's free choice.[3]
In some older English translations of the Bible (such as the KJV), the word "hell" is used to translate certain words such as sheol (Hebrew) and hades (Greek). These words do not typically refer to the place of eternal punishment, but to the underworld or temporary abode of the dead.
The New Testament depicts "hell", the place of eternal punishment, in a variety of ways. The most common term used for "hell" in the original Greek is γεεννα (gehenna), a direct loan of Hebrew ge-hinnom. The term is, however, found almost exclusively in the synoptic gospels.[8][9][10] Gehenna is most frequently described as a place of fiery torment (eg. Matthew 5:22, 18:8-9; Mark 9:43-49) although other passages mention darkness and "weeping and gnashing of teeth" (eg. Matthew 8:12; 22:13).[9]
Besides this teaching in the synoptic gospels, the concept of hell is found in other parts of the NT although the term gehenna is not used. The Johannine writings refer to the destiny of the wicked in terms of "perishing", "death" and "condemnation" or "judgment". St. Paul speaks of "wrath" and "everlasting destruction" (cf. Romans 2:7-9; 2 Thessalonians 1:9), while the general epistles use a range of terms and images including "raging fire" (Hebrews 10:27), "destruction" (2 Peter 3:7), "eternal fire" (Jude 7) and "blackest darkness" (Jude 13). Most biblical scholars believe this to be a symbol of eternal separation from God and God's presence. The book of Revelation contains the image of a "lake of fire" and "burning sulphur" where "the devil, the beast, and false prophets" will be "tormented day and night for ever and ever" (Revelation 20:10) along with those who worship the beast or receive its mark (Revelation 14:11).[11]
The New Testament also uses the Greek word hades, usually to refer to the temporary abode of the dead (eg. Acts 2:31; Revelation 20:13).[6] Only one passage describes hades as a place of torment, the parable of Lazarus and Dives (Luke 16:19-31). Jesus here depicts a wicked man suffering fiery torment in hades, which is contrasted with the bosom of Abraham, and explains that it is impossible to cross over from one location to the other. Some scholars believe that this parable reflects the intertestamental Jewish view of hades (or sheol) as containing separate divisions for the wicked and righteous.[6][11] In Revelation 20:13-14 hades is itself thrown into the "lake of fire" after being emptied of the dead.
Hindu Hell
Yama has many soldiers, servants and attendants who carry our his work; and hell is full of animal-like creatures, like the ever-present sharp-beaked birds, who act as guards there. But one of the unusual features of Hindu hell is that as often as not there are no punishing agents specifically mentioned. Those who suffer often act out their own punishments, forced to endure a destiny or undertake some course of action, rather than being the object of torture. As the Ramayana explains, they eat the fruit of their own acts.
The various names of the hells indicate circumstances and conditions: for instance, Ghatiyantra is a hell associated by its name with a water wheel and also with an intestinal disease, characterized by diarrhea and ulceration of the mucous membrane of the digestive tract. Gudapaka is a hell associated by its name with infections of the anal passage. Other hell names indicate what souls will find. In Kutasalmali, they find the kutasalmali tree — with its thick conical spines — which the denizens climb up and down, ripping their bodies apart, as if driven by some cosmic obligation.
Harrowing of Hell
The harrowing of hell is a motif that is found in Christian literature of the otherworld, most notably Christ’s harrowing of hell from the New Testament, particularly 1 Peter, and Mary’s harrowing of hell from the Apocalypse of Mary.
Three of the major Hindu Hell texts narrate a similar story: the descent into hell of a king, who has either been sent there mistakenly or to quickly purge a minor offense. His very presence ameliorates the torture suffered by the inhabitants. When he is encouraged to leave and assume his place with Indra or Vishnu, he refuses, insisting that he would rather dedicate himself to the relief of these souls than escape to his own reward, and claiming that the opportunity to offer relief is, in fact, a far greater reward. Eventually his commitment to these souls effects their release
The various names of the hells indicate circumstances and conditions: for instance, Ghatiyantra is a hell associated by its name with a water wheel and also with an intestinal disease, characterized by diarrhea and ulceration of the mucous membrane of the digestive tract. Gudapaka is a hell associated by its name with infections of the anal passage. Other hell names indicate what souls will find. In Kutasalmali, they find the kutasalmali tree — with its thick conical spines — which the denizens climb up and down, ripping their bodies apart, as if driven by some cosmic obligation.
Harrowing of Hell
The harrowing of hell is a motif that is found in Christian literature of the otherworld, most notably Christ’s harrowing of hell from the New Testament, particularly 1 Peter, and Mary’s harrowing of hell from the Apocalypse of Mary.
Three of the major Hindu Hell texts narrate a similar story: the descent into hell of a king, who has either been sent there mistakenly or to quickly purge a minor offense. His very presence ameliorates the torture suffered by the inhabitants. When he is encouraged to leave and assume his place with Indra or Vishnu, he refuses, insisting that he would rather dedicate himself to the relief of these souls than escape to his own reward, and claiming that the opportunity to offer relief is, in fact, a far greater reward. Eventually his commitment to these souls effects their release
Egyptian Hell
What are the characteristics of the place of annihilation and destruction — the Egyptian hell? In the earliest periods for which we have records, the fate of the condemned was to walk upside-down, and this punishment in depicted in several texts and which seems to signify that the deceased is beneath the earth and separated forever from the sun, of Ra. In other texts the motionless, senseless body decays and passes away. Later texts are more descriptive and sketch a dark shadowy underground realm — not all that different from the Hebrew Sheol or Greek and Roman Hades. It is, needless to say, a dangerous place — a river divided into burning regions, which include sinister caves, a pool or lake of hell-fire, cauldrons or basins bubbling over fire, or pods full of flames.
In this region the enemies of Ra and those who have sinned against Osiris are delivered up to punishments. There are serpents and devouring demons who carry out the punishments. But the righteous also engage in destroying the condemned, who are seized and fettered to mooring posts or restrained on slaughtering blocks, where they are cut, scorched by branding irons, burned, decapitated and finally slaughtered, executed and destroyed. The result is that the condemned no longer exist.
Although the punishments themselves are not eternal — they do not continue unendingly — they are eternal in that they are irrevocable.
In this region the enemies of Ra and those who have sinned against Osiris are delivered up to punishments. There are serpents and devouring demons who carry out the punishments. But the righteous also engage in destroying the condemned, who are seized and fettered to mooring posts or restrained on slaughtering blocks, where they are cut, scorched by branding irons, burned, decapitated and finally slaughtered, executed and destroyed. The result is that the condemned no longer exist.
Although the punishments themselves are not eternal — they do not continue unendingly — they are eternal in that they are irrevocable.
Zorastian Hell
The standard punishment found in the majority of texts is for the wicked to be fed fetid and putrid things while waiting thousands of years in the company of demons until the final resurrection. However, the Book of Arda Viraf elaborates on all manner of punishment, which are so disgusting that E. W. West’s translation in Sacred Books of the East broke off midway, explaining: “From here onward the pictures of the tortured souls become too nauseous to follow.”
Indeed, they may also be forced to ingest and devour horrid things (their own corpses, flesh and excrement, menstrual fluids and semen, blood and brains from skulls of the dead and their own children). Other punishments may be even more gruesome, including hanging (particularly upside-down), dismemberment, decapitation, laceration, mutilation and self-mutilation by cutting, gnawing, devouring, gnashing, piercing, beating, tearing, trampling, stinging and dragging. The wicked are stabbed and pelted, and stretched on racks; they are forced to bear enormous burdens, perform painful and fruitless tasks; are burned and cooked in ovens, cauldrons and frying-pans; are cast down into heat, cold and smoke, snow and stench. They endure hunger and thirst; and they are forced to lick hot things or to defecate and masturbate continually; they are submerged in mud and turned into serpents; and also oddly bombarded with hedgehogs (a small spiny animal, native to Iran and popular as a pet among ancient Zoroastrians). In particular, the sense organs of the wicked are attacked: their eyes gouged out and their tongues pulled out; putrid substances are forced into their noses, eyes and mouths. Their sexual organs are also assaulted: their penises are gnawed and their breasts are gnashed and cut off.
While demons are often mentioned in these descriptions, the Book of Arda Viraf again outstrips the other texts by including khrafstars (a general term for demons and demonesses), serpents, worms, snakes, frogs, ants, scorpions, flies; as well as cattle, dogs, the aforementioned hedgehogs, and various animals with horns.
Indeed, they may also be forced to ingest and devour horrid things (their own corpses, flesh and excrement, menstrual fluids and semen, blood and brains from skulls of the dead and their own children). Other punishments may be even more gruesome, including hanging (particularly upside-down), dismemberment, decapitation, laceration, mutilation and self-mutilation by cutting, gnawing, devouring, gnashing, piercing, beating, tearing, trampling, stinging and dragging. The wicked are stabbed and pelted, and stretched on racks; they are forced to bear enormous burdens, perform painful and fruitless tasks; are burned and cooked in ovens, cauldrons and frying-pans; are cast down into heat, cold and smoke, snow and stench. They endure hunger and thirst; and they are forced to lick hot things or to defecate and masturbate continually; they are submerged in mud and turned into serpents; and also oddly bombarded with hedgehogs (a small spiny animal, native to Iran and popular as a pet among ancient Zoroastrians). In particular, the sense organs of the wicked are attacked: their eyes gouged out and their tongues pulled out; putrid substances are forced into their noses, eyes and mouths. Their sexual organs are also assaulted: their penises are gnawed and their breasts are gnashed and cut off.
While demons are often mentioned in these descriptions, the Book of Arda Viraf again outstrips the other texts by including khrafstars (a general term for demons and demonesses), serpents, worms, snakes, frogs, ants, scorpions, flies; as well as cattle, dogs, the aforementioned hedgehogs, and various animals with horns.
Hell in the Jainst/Buddist Religion
In a dialogue between Sudharma Swami and Mahavira(demon entities) in the Jain text Sutrakritanga, Mahavira speaks of various reasons a soul may take birth in hells: [4]
Sudharma Swami: What is the punishment in the hells? Knowing it, O sage, tell it me who do not know it! How do sinners go to hell?
Mahavira: I shall describe the truly insupportable pains where there is distress and (the punishment of) evil deeds. Those cruel sinners who, from a desire of (worldly) life, commit bad deeds, will sink into the dreadful hell which is full of dense darkness and great suffering. He who always kills movable and immovable beings for the sake of his own comfort, who injures them, who takes what is not freely given, who does not learn what is to be practised (viz. control). The impudent sinner, who injures many beings without relenting will go to hell; at the end of his life the will sink to the (place of) darkness; head downwards he comes to the place of torture. The prisoners in hell lose their senses from fright, and do not know in what direction to run. Going to a place like a burning heap of coals on fire, and being burnt they cry horribly; they remain there long, shrieking aloud.
According to Jain scripture, Tattvarthasutra, following are the causes for birthn in hell:[5]
Killing or causing pain with intense passion.
Excessive attachment to things and worldly pleasure with constantly indulging in cruel and violent acts.
Vowless and unrestrained life.
[edit] Description of tortures of hell
A vision of the Buddhist hell that is similar to Jain HellIn a dialogue between Sudharma and Mahavira the Jain text Sutrakritanga, Mahavira describes various tortures and sufferings in hells:[6]
They cross the horrible Vaitaranî, being urged on by arrows, and wounded with spears. The punishers pierce them with darts; they go in the boat, losing their memory; others pierce them with long pikes and tridents, and throw them on the ground. Some, round whose neck big stones are tied, are drowned in deep water. Others again roll about in the Kadambavâlukâ (river) or in burning chaff, and are roasted in it. And they come to the great impassable hell, full of agony, called Asûrya (i.e. where the sun does not shine), where there is great darkness, where fires, placed above, below, and all around, are blazing. There, as in a cave, being roasted on the fire, he is burned, having lost the reminiscence (of his sins) and consciousness of everything else; always suffering (he comes) to that miserable hot place that is ever ready (for the punishment of evildoers) There the cruel punishers have lighted four fires, and roast the sinners; they are roasted there like fishes put on the fire alive.
The prisoners in hell come to the dreadful place called Santakshana (i.e. cutting), where the cruel punishers tie their hands and feet, and with axes in their hands cut them like wooden planks. And they turn the writhing victims round, and stew them, like living fishes, in an iron caldron filled with their own blood, their limbs covered with ordure, their heads smashed.
In Hellish being have a life span of millions of years and are not easily killed even though endure the torture. Even if they are killed they immediately take birth and are then repeatedly killed. This is described as thus:
They are not reduced to ashes there, and they do not die of their enormous pains; undergoing this punishment, the miserable men suffer for their misdeeds. And there in the place, where there is constant shivering, they resort to a large burning fire; but they find no relief in that place of torture; the tormentors torture them still. There is heard everywhere the noise of painfully uttered cries even as in the street of a town. Those whose bad Karman takes effect (viz. the punishers), violently torment again and again those whose bad Karman takes effect also (viz. the punished).
They deprive the sinner of his life; I shall truly tell you how this is done. The wicked (punishers) remind by (similar) punishment (their victims) of all sins they had committed in a former life. Being killed they are thrown into a hell which is full of boiling filth. There they stay eating filth, and they are eaten by vermin. And there is an always crowded, hot place, which men deserve for their great sins, and which is full of misery. (The punishers) put them in shackles, beat their bodies, and torment them (by perforating) their skulls with drills. They cut off the sinner's nose with a razor, they cut off both his ears and lips; they pull out his tongue a span's length and torment (him by piercing it) with sharp pikes. There the sinners dripping (with blood) whine day and night even as the dry leaves of a palm-tree (agitated by the wind). Their blood, matter, and flesh are dropping off while they are roasted, their bodies being besmeared with natron. Have you heard of the large, erected caldron of more than man's size, full of blood and matter, which is extremely heated by a fresh fire, in which blood and matter are boiling? The sinners are thrown into it and boiled there, while they utter horrid cries of 'Agony; they are made to drink molten lead and copper when they are thirsty, and they shriek still more horribly. Those evildoers who have here forfeited their souls' (happiness) for the sake of small (pleasures), and have been born in the lowest births during hundred thousands of million years will stay in this (hell). Their punishment will be adequate to their deeds. The wicked who have committed crimes will atone for them, deprived of all pleasant and lovely objects, by dwelling in the stinking crowded hell, a scene of pain, which is full of flesh.
Sudharma Swami: What is the punishment in the hells? Knowing it, O sage, tell it me who do not know it! How do sinners go to hell?
Mahavira: I shall describe the truly insupportable pains where there is distress and (the punishment of) evil deeds. Those cruel sinners who, from a desire of (worldly) life, commit bad deeds, will sink into the dreadful hell which is full of dense darkness and great suffering. He who always kills movable and immovable beings for the sake of his own comfort, who injures them, who takes what is not freely given, who does not learn what is to be practised (viz. control). The impudent sinner, who injures many beings without relenting will go to hell; at the end of his life the will sink to the (place of) darkness; head downwards he comes to the place of torture. The prisoners in hell lose their senses from fright, and do not know in what direction to run. Going to a place like a burning heap of coals on fire, and being burnt they cry horribly; they remain there long, shrieking aloud.
According to Jain scripture, Tattvarthasutra, following are the causes for birthn in hell:[5]
Killing or causing pain with intense passion.
Excessive attachment to things and worldly pleasure with constantly indulging in cruel and violent acts.
Vowless and unrestrained life.
[edit] Description of tortures of hell
A vision of the Buddhist hell that is similar to Jain HellIn a dialogue between Sudharma and Mahavira the Jain text Sutrakritanga, Mahavira describes various tortures and sufferings in hells:[6]
They cross the horrible Vaitaranî, being urged on by arrows, and wounded with spears. The punishers pierce them with darts; they go in the boat, losing their memory; others pierce them with long pikes and tridents, and throw them on the ground. Some, round whose neck big stones are tied, are drowned in deep water. Others again roll about in the Kadambavâlukâ (river) or in burning chaff, and are roasted in it. And they come to the great impassable hell, full of agony, called Asûrya (i.e. where the sun does not shine), where there is great darkness, where fires, placed above, below, and all around, are blazing. There, as in a cave, being roasted on the fire, he is burned, having lost the reminiscence (of his sins) and consciousness of everything else; always suffering (he comes) to that miserable hot place that is ever ready (for the punishment of evildoers) There the cruel punishers have lighted four fires, and roast the sinners; they are roasted there like fishes put on the fire alive.
The prisoners in hell come to the dreadful place called Santakshana (i.e. cutting), where the cruel punishers tie their hands and feet, and with axes in their hands cut them like wooden planks. And they turn the writhing victims round, and stew them, like living fishes, in an iron caldron filled with their own blood, their limbs covered with ordure, their heads smashed.
In Hellish being have a life span of millions of years and are not easily killed even though endure the torture. Even if they are killed they immediately take birth and are then repeatedly killed. This is described as thus:
They are not reduced to ashes there, and they do not die of their enormous pains; undergoing this punishment, the miserable men suffer for their misdeeds. And there in the place, where there is constant shivering, they resort to a large burning fire; but they find no relief in that place of torture; the tormentors torture them still. There is heard everywhere the noise of painfully uttered cries even as in the street of a town. Those whose bad Karman takes effect (viz. the punishers), violently torment again and again those whose bad Karman takes effect also (viz. the punished).
They deprive the sinner of his life; I shall truly tell you how this is done. The wicked (punishers) remind by (similar) punishment (their victims) of all sins they had committed in a former life. Being killed they are thrown into a hell which is full of boiling filth. There they stay eating filth, and they are eaten by vermin. And there is an always crowded, hot place, which men deserve for their great sins, and which is full of misery. (The punishers) put them in shackles, beat their bodies, and torment them (by perforating) their skulls with drills. They cut off the sinner's nose with a razor, they cut off both his ears and lips; they pull out his tongue a span's length and torment (him by piercing it) with sharp pikes. There the sinners dripping (with blood) whine day and night even as the dry leaves of a palm-tree (agitated by the wind). Their blood, matter, and flesh are dropping off while they are roasted, their bodies being besmeared with natron. Have you heard of the large, erected caldron of more than man's size, full of blood and matter, which is extremely heated by a fresh fire, in which blood and matter are boiling? The sinners are thrown into it and boiled there, while they utter horrid cries of 'Agony; they are made to drink molten lead and copper when they are thirsty, and they shriek still more horribly. Those evildoers who have here forfeited their souls' (happiness) for the sake of small (pleasures), and have been born in the lowest births during hundred thousands of million years will stay in this (hell). Their punishment will be adequate to their deeds. The wicked who have committed crimes will atone for them, deprived of all pleasant and lovely objects, by dwelling in the stinking crowded hell, a scene of pain, which is full of flesh.
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