The meaning modern readers associate with hell must be different from those that Lehi intended as he spoke to his sons. There are several reasons for this assertion. The first is that the concept we have of hell is a theological development that postdates Lehi’s departure from Jerusalem. For Israel, there was a place called Sheol, a place where the dead (“shades”) go. It was not, however, the antithesis of heaven that hell has become. Thus, at least that part of our perception of the word hell is anachronistic.
Second, the imagery Lehi employs of a deep sleep, or the sleep of hell, is incongruous with the punitive hell of later Christian tradition. It is much closer to the concept of Sheol as a resting place for the dead, righteous and unrighteous alike.
The most important difference, however, is that Lehi and his sons are still alive, and while alive, Lehi describes his sons as being in the sleep of hell. In verse 15, just a couple of sentences away, Lehi will note that he has been redeemed from hell. Thus, Lehi is referring to something very different than any of the meanings which we associate with hell.
The clue to Lehi’s meaning is in the phrase that those in hell would be “carried away captive down to the eternal gulf of misery and woe.” The idea of the eternal gulf is the appropriate image to understand Lehi’s meaning. It recalls the dream of the Tree of Life. Nephi described the gulf as part of his vision, rather than his father’s, but since Nephi intentionally abbreviated Lehi’s dream to move on to his own, Lehi likely understood the same imagery.
Therefore, for Lehi, hell is the gulf that separates us from Jehovah, or his influence. The chains of hell are those habits or beliefs that contribute to our separation from God. That separation is ultimately definable as misery and woe because it is a separation from the happiness and joy that come from becoming one with God’s purposes.