Since these Hebrew and Greek words refer to an individual burial place or grave site, they are often used in the plural as referring to many such graves. They are, therefore, distinct from the Hebrew sheʼohlʹ and its Greek equivalent haiʹdes, which refer to the common grave of mankind, or gravedom, and hence are always used in the singular. For this reason many modern translations have not followed the practice of the King James Version, in which sheʼohlʹ and haiʹdes are alternately rendered by the words “hell,” “grave,” and “pit,” but have instead simply transliterated them into English.​—See HADES; SHEOL.

The Hebrew word qeʹver is the common word used to designate a burial place, a grave, or a graveyard. (Ge 23:7-9; Jer 8:1; 26:23) The related word qevu·rahʹ similarly may refer to an earthen grave or to a tomb excavated in rock.​—Ge 35:20; 1Sa 10:2.