UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament

Sense 1: the world of the dead, Hades

Semantic entry: 1.19

Semantic domains: Geographical Objects and Features

Subdomains: Regions Below the Surface of the Earth

Definition: a place or abode of the dead, including both the righteous and the unrighteous (in most contexts ᾅδης[a] is equivalent to the Hebrew term Sheol)

Notes: There are several problems involved in rendering ᾅδης[a] as world of the dead, since in some languages this may be interpreted as suggesting that there are two different earths, one for the living and another for the dead. In such cases, ᾅδης[a] may be more satisfactorily rendered as ‘where the dead are’ or ‘where the dead remain.’|In RV LUK 16:23 · LV LUK 16:23 · Read together LUK 16:23 ᾅδης[a] obviously involves torment and punishment. These aspects are important supplementary features of the word ᾅδης[a] but are not integral elements of the meaning. In RV LUK 16:23 · LV LUK 16:23 · Read together LUK 16:23, however, it may be appropriate to use a term which is equivalent to Greek γέεννα meaning hell (see 1.21: γέεννα). It is indeed possible that in addressing a GrecoRoman audience Luke would have used ᾅδης in a context implying punishment and torment, since this was a typical Greco-Roman view of the next world. But since Luke also uses γέεννα, as in RV LUK 12:5 · LV LUK 12:5 · Read together LUK 12:5, it is possible that the choice of ᾅδης in RV LUK 16:23 · LV LUK 16:23 · Read together LUK 16:23 reflects Luke’s intent to emphasize the fact that ᾅδης[a] includes both the unrighteous and the righteous.

Sense 2: death, power of death

Semantic entry: 23.108

Semantic domains: Physiological Processes and States

Subdomains: Live, Die

Definition: (a figurative extension of meaning of ᾅδης[a] Hades, 1.19: ᾅδης, as a personification of the power of Hades as the place of the dead)

Notes: In RV CO1 15:55 · LV CO1 15:55 · Read together CO1 15:55 ᾅδη is a variant reading in the apparatus of θάνατε ‘death’ (23.99: ἀποθνῄσκω / 23.99: ἐκψύχω / 23.99: θάνατος / 23.99: θνῄσκω / 23.99: νέκρωσις).|In some languages it is extremely difficult to personify death except as a reference to some demon which may cause death, but this, of course, is not the reference in this passage. The closest equivalent in some languages is ‘how can death be victorious?’ or ‘death cannot be victorious.’ In some instances it may be necessary to represent the personification as ‘you who cause death,’ and thus this expression in RV CO1 15:55 · LV CO1 15:55 · Read together CO1 15:55 may be translated as ‘you who cause death will not always be victorious’ or ‘… will not in the end be victorious.’

Sense 3: death

Semantic entry: 12.50

Semantic domains: Supernatural Beings and Powers

Subdomains: Supernatural Powers

Definition: (an idiom, literally: gates of Hades) death as an impersonal supernatural power

Notes: Some scholars, however, understand πύλαι ᾅδου to mean Satanic powers of evil.

Collocations: πύλαι ᾅδου