Acts 2:27

In Hades (ei Haidhn). Hades is the unseen world, Hebrew Sheol, but here it is viewed as death itself "considered as a rapacious destroyer" (Hackett). It does not mean the place of punishment, though both heaven and the place of torment are in Hades ( Luke 16:23 ). "Death and Hades are strictly parallel terms: he who is dead is in Hades" (Page). The use of ei here=en is common enough. The Textus Receptus here reads ei Haidou (genitive case) like the Attic idiom with domon (abode) understood. "Hades" in English is not translation, but transliteration. The phrase in the Apostles' Creed, "descended into hell" is from this passage in Acts (Hades, not Gehenna). The English word "hell" is Anglo-Saxon from elan, to hide, and was used in the Authorized Version to translate both Hades as here and Gehenna as in Matthew 5:22 . Thy Holy One (ton osion sou). Peter applies these words to the Messiah. Corruption (diapqoran). The word can mean destruction or putrefaction from diapqeirw, old word, but in N.T. only here and Acts 13:34-37 . The Hebrew word in Psalms 16:1-11 can mean also the pit or the deep.