“The wicked will return to Sheol, even all the nations who forget God,” (Psalm 9:17).

Sometimes annihilationists will quote Psalm 9:17 in their attempt to support their doctrine of the wicked’s final extinction and how the dead cease to exist upon death or enter soul sleep. But, Psalm 9:17 says “the wicked will return to Sheol.” This is problematic if it’s to be taken literally. Sheol is generically the abode of the dead. Even annihilationists affirm this.

• “Scripture’s overall usage of Sheol and Hades reveals that, upon death, it is a place where all men, righteous and unrighteous, go to.”¹http://www.rethinkinghell.com/2017/05/hypocrisy-not-hell-the-polemic-parable-of-lazarus-and-the-rich-man
• “Sheol was the most common Old Testament word for the general abode of the dead.”²A Consuming Passion: Essays on Hell and Immortality in Honor of Edward Fudge (Kindle Locations 5015-5016). Pickwick Publications, an Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers. Kindle Edition

But if it is the place of the dead, if it is where the dead go to, either in non-existence or soul sleep, then how is it possible that the wicked are returning from there? But if someone doesn’t exist before he is born and dies, then how can he return to Sheol? We have no pre-existence. So how can the wicked return to the grave?

If the conditionalist wants to say that it’s non-existence to which we return, then that would make no sense either since non-existence isn’t anything. There can be no “we” in nothingness and we cannot return to ‘nothingness’ since nothing isn’t something anyone returns to.

So, Psalm 9:17 cannot be used to support annihilationist presuppositions. It is a Psalm, a song set in poetic and musical form. Though we can derive many sound doctrines from the Psalms, we must be careful not to extract from a single verse any particular doctrine that is not explicitly stated therein. We must use the whole of Scripture to do that.

Finally, I analyzed every occurrence of the word Sheol in the Bible.  See Word study on Sheol, grave.  I quote from that analysis.

“…what I found interesting is the implication of being alive in Sheol (Number 16:30, 33, Psalm 55:15), and God is said to be with the person in Sheol (Psalm 139:8). Also, when we see the implication of levels of Sheol (Deut. 32:22), then we have to ask how that could be if soul sleep is true? Are there levels of unconsciousness? Then there is also Jonah who was alive in the belly of the fish which he called Sheol (Jonah 2:2). So, we can conclude that though the word is found in verses which can be used to support soul sleep, there are also occurrences of the word which speak against it.”

Conclusion

Psalm 9:17 cannot be used to support annihilationism or soul sleep since it speaks of the wicked returning to Sheol. They cannot return to someplace if they have not been there before. Since we begin to exist at our conception, it cannot be that when the wicked die, they return to Sheol – since they have not been there before. It is only upon death that they enter that condition. So, what is Psalm 9:17 saying? In my opinion, it is speaking of the judgment of the wicked by God. But, the full nature of that judgment is not revealed in the text. So this verse cannot be used to prove annihilationism, soul sleep, or the idea that upon physical death the soul ceases to exist.