Scripture doesn't give a single systematic treatise on hell; it gives images, embedded in different kinds of writing, and the church has had to think carefully about how literally to press each one.
The vocabulary and its genres matter. Matthew 25:41 is the climax of a parable — the sheep and goats — a judgment scene, not a geography lesson. Jesus says the condemned depart "into the eternal fire (τὸ πῦρ τὸ αἰώνιον, Strong 4442/166) which is prepared for the devil and his angels." Note the target: this fire's original preparation is for spiritual powers, not primarily for humans — humans go there by refusing to be counted among the sheep. Matthew 13:42, from the parable of the weeds, uses a different image, κάμινος (Strong 2575, "furnace" — a smelting or baking oven), with "weeping and gnashing of teeth" — a stock phrase in Matthew for the anguish of exclusion, appearing at several judgment scenes. These are parables; the fire and furnace are figures within a story whose point is separation and irrevocable loss, not a claim to have photographed the afterlife.
Hebrews and 2 Peter speak in more didactic, exhortatory register. Hebrews 10:27 warns believers tempted to apostasy of "a fierceness of fire (πυρὸς ζῆλος) which will devour the adversaries" — the word ζῆλος (zeal, jealousy, Strong 2205) casts judgment as the burning intensity of a betrayed covenant partner, not a dispassionate penalty. 2 Peter 3:7 places final judgment in cosmic terms: the present heavens and earth are "stored up for fire" (τεθησαυρισμένοι, from θησαυρίζω, to treasure up) "against the day of judgment and destruction (ἀπωλείας) of ungodly men" — judgment here is world-scale, not merely individual.
What's consistent across genres: exclusion from God's presence, the language of fire (whether literal or figurative is genuinely disputed among careful readers — some in the tradition, following the parabolic context, read it as symbolic of real and final separation rather than physical combustion), and finality. Hebrews 4:3's warning about "my rest" — quoting the wilderness generation who were sworn out of Canaan for unbelief — supplies the deeper category: hell is fundamentally the eternal analogue of not entering God's rest, not a separate topic from the whole letter's argument about persevering faith.
Isaiah 28:15 doesn't describe hell but the false security of "a covenant with death" — instructive as the opposite condition scripture warns against, not itself a hell text.
but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which will devour the adversaries.closest in meaning to what you asked
Greek Nestle 1904
φοβερὰ δέ τις ἐκδοχὴ κρίσεως καὶ πυρὸς ζῆλος ἐσθίειν μέλλοντος τοὺς ὑπεναντίους.
- φοβερὰ φοβερός adjective · nominative singular feminine G5398
- δέ δέ conjunction G1161
- τις τὶς indefinite pronoun · nominative singular feminine G5100
- ἐκδοχὴ ἐκδοχή noun · nominative singular feminine G1561
- κρίσεως κρίσις noun · genitive singular feminine G2920
- καὶ καί conjunction G2532
- πυρὸς πῦρ noun · genitive singular neuter G4442
- ζῆλος ζῆλος noun · nominative singular neuter G2205
- ἐσθίειν ἐσθίω verb · present active infinitive G2068
- μέλλοντος μέλλω verb · present active participle, genitive singular neuter G3195
- τοὺς ὁ article · accusative plural masculine G3588
- ὑπεναντίους. ὑπεναντίος adjective · accusative plural masculine G5227
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- Isaiah 26:11 Yahweh, your hand is lifted up, yet they don't see; but they will see your zeal for the people and be disappointed. Yes, fire will consume your adversaries.
- Zephaniah 1:18 Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them in the day of Yahweh's wrath, but the whole land will be devoured by the fire of his jealousy; for he will make an end, yes, a terrible end, of all those who dwell in the land.
- Hebrews 2:3 how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation—which at the first having been spoken through the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard,
- Hebrews 9:27 Inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this, judgment,
- Hebrews 12:25 See that you don't refuse him who speaks. For if they didn't escape when they refused him who warned on the earth, how much more will we not escape who turn away from him who warns from heaven,
Then he will say also to those on the left hand, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels;closest in meaning to what you asked
Greek Nestle 1904
τότε ἐρεῖ καὶ τοῖς ἐξ εὐωνύμων Πορεύεσθε ἀπ’ ἐμοῦ κατηραμένοι εἰς τὸ πῦρ τὸ αἰώνιον τὸ ἡτοιμασμένον τῷ διαβόλῳ καὶ τοῖς ἀγγέλοις αὐτοῦ.
- τότε τότε adverb G5119
- ἐρεῖ εἶπον verb · future active indicative, 3rd person singular G2046
- καὶ καί conjunction G2532
- τοῖς ὁ article · dative plural neuter G3588
- ἐξ ἐκ preposition G1537
- εὐωνύμων εὐώνυμος adjective · genitive plural neuter G2176
- Πορεύεσθε πορεύομαι verb · present middle or passive deponent imperative, 2nd person plural G4198
- ἀπ’ ἀπό preposition G575
- ἐμοῦ ἐγώ personal pronoun G1473
- κατηραμένοι καταράομαι verb · perfect passive participle, nominative plural masculine G2672
- εἰς εἰς preposition G1519
- τὸ ὁ article · accusative singular neuter G3588
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- 2 Peter 2:4 For if God didn't spare angels when they sinned, but cast them down to Tartarus, and committed them to pits of darkness to be reserved for judgment;
- Jude 1:6 Angels who didn't keep their first domain, but deserted their own dwelling place, he has kept in everlasting bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day.
- 2 Thessalonians 1:9 who will pay the penalty: eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might,
- Matthew 13:42 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
- John 8:44 You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and doesn't stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks on his own; for he is a liar, and the father of lies.
But the heavens that exist now and the earth, by the same word have been stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.closest in meaning to what you asked
Greek Nestle 1904
οἱ δὲ νῦν οὐρανοὶ καὶ ἡ γῆ τῷ αὐτῷ λόγῳ τεθησαυρισμένοι εἰσὶν πυρὶ τηρούμενοι εἰς ἡμέραν κρίσεως καὶ ἀπωλείας τῶν ἀσεβῶν ἀνθρώπων.
- οἱ ὁ article · nominative plural masculine G3588
- δὲ δέ conjunction G1161
- νῦν νῦν adverb G3568
- οὐρανοὶ οὐρανός noun · nominative plural masculine G3772
- καὶ καί conjunction G2532
- ἡ ὁ article · nominative singular feminine G3588
- γῆ γῆ noun · nominative singular feminine G1093
- τῷ ὁ article · dative singular masculine G3588
- αὐτῷ αὐτός personal pronoun · dative singular masculine G846
- λόγῳ λόγος noun · dative singular masculine G3056
- τεθησαυρισμένοι θησαυρίζω verb · perfect passive participle, nominative plural masculine G2343
- εἰσὶν εἰμί verb · present active indicative, 3rd person plural G1510
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- 2 Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fervent heat; and the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
- Isaiah 51:6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens will vanish away like smoke, and the earth will wear out like a garment. Its inhabitants will die in the same way, but my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will not be abolished.
- 2 Peter 3:12 looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, which will cause the burning heavens to be dissolved, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?
- Revelation 21:1 I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away, and the sea is no more.
- Matthew 24:35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
For we who have believed do enter into that rest, even as he has said, "As I swore in my wrath, they will not enter into my rest;" although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.closest in meaning to what you asked
Greek Nestle 1904
Εἰσερχόμεθα γὰρ εἰς τὴν κατάπαυσιν οἱ πιστεύσαντες, καθὼς εἴρηκεν Ὡς ὤμοσα ἐν τῇ ὀργῇ μου Εἰ εἰσελεύσονται εἰς τὴν κατάπαυσίν μου, καίτοι τῶν ἔργων ἀπὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου γενηθέντων.
- Εἰσερχόμεθα εἰσέρχομαι verb · present middle or passive deponent indicative, 1st person plural G1525
- γὰρ γάρ conjunction G1063
- εἰς εἰς preposition G1519
- τὴν ὁ article · accusative singular feminine G3588
- κατάπαυσιν κατάπαυσις noun · accusative singular feminine G2663
- οἱ ὁ article · nominative plural masculine G3588
- πιστεύσαντες, πιστεύω verb · aorist active participle, nominative plural masculine G4100
- καθὼς καθώς adverb G2531
- εἴρηκεν εἶπον verb · perfect active indicative, 3rd person singular G2046
- Ὡς ὡς adverb G5613
- ὤμοσα ὀμνύω verb · aorist active indicative, 1st person singular G3660
- ἐν ἐν preposition G1722
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- Psalm 95:11 Therefore I swore in my wrath, "They won't enter into my rest."
- Matthew 11:28 "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest.
- 1 Peter 1:20 who was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but was revealed in this last age for your sake,
- Ephesians 1:4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and without defect before him in love,
- Genesis 1:31 God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. There was evening and there was morning, a sixth day.
and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.closest in meaning to what you asked
Greek Nestle 1904
καὶ βαλοῦσιν αὐτοὺς εἰς τὴν κάμινον τοῦ πυρός· ἐκεῖ ἔσται ὁ κλαυθμὸς καὶ ὁ βρυγμὸς τῶν ὀδόντων.
- καὶ καί conjunction G2532
- βαλοῦσιν βάλλω verb · future active indicative, 3rd person plural G906
- αὐτοὺς αὐτός personal pronoun · accusative plural masculine G846
- εἰς εἰς preposition G1519
- τὴν ὁ article · accusative singular feminine G3588
- κάμινον κάμινος noun · accusative singular feminine G2575
- τοῦ ὁ article · genitive singular neuter G3588
- πυρός· πῦρ noun · genitive singular neuter G4442
- ἐκεῖ ἐκεῖ adverb G1563
- ἔσται εἰμί verb · future middle deponent indicative, 3rd person singular G1510
- ὁ ὁ article · nominative singular masculine G3588
- κλαυθμὸς κλαυθμός noun · nominative singular masculine G2805
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- Matthew 13:50 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
- Luke 16:23 In Hades, he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far off, and Lazarus at his bosom.
- Revelation 20:14 Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.
- Matthew 8:12 but the children of the Kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
- Revelation 20:10 The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet are also. They will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
"Because you have said, 'We have made a covenant with death, and we are in agreement with Sheol. When the overflowing scourge passes through, it won't come to us; for we have made lies our refuge, and we have hidden ourselves under falsehood.'"closest in meaning to what you asked
See also 5
- Isaiah 8:7 now therefore, behold, the Lord brings upon them the mighty flood waters of the River: the king of Assyria and all his glory. It will come up over all its channels, and go over all its banks.
- Amos 2:4 Yahweh says: "For three transgressions of Judah, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because they have rejected Yahweh's law, and have not kept his statutes, and their lies have led them astray, after which their fathers walked;
- Hosea 2:18 In that day I will make a covenant for them with the animals of the field, and with the birds of the sky, and with the creeping things of the ground. I will break the bow, the sword, and the battle out of the land, and will make them lie down safely.
- Ecclesiastes 8:8 There is no man who has power over the spirit to contain the spirit; neither does he have power over the day of death. There is no discharge in war; neither shall wickedness deliver those who practice it.
- Isaiah 28:18 Your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol shall not stand. When the overflowing scourge passes through, then you will be trampled down by it.
From the interpretive tradition
The Scriptures are the product of the Spirit of God, and are therefore in the highest and truest sense the Word of God, though given through the instrumentality of men.
Christianity is not a series of truths in the plural, but rather truth spelled with a capital ‘T’.
In the Catholic Church itself, all possible care must be taken that we hold that faith which has been believed everywhere, always, and by all.
A worked example. Ask your own and it starts a new thread.