Is the scriptural hell simply the grave?

Yes. Just to emphasize, though, sheol or hell doesn´t refer to an individual grave. As you said, it is the figurative common grave of mankind, or gravedom.

The Hebrew word qe′ver 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·rah′ similarly may refer to an earthen grave or to a tomb excavated in rock.—Ge 35:20; 1Sa 10:2.

In Greek the common word for grave is ta′phos (Mt 28:1), and the verb form (tha′pto) means “bury.” (Mt 8:21, 22) The word mne′ma (Lu 23:53) refers to a tomb and the word mne·mei′on (Lu 23:55) refers to a memorial tomb.

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 sheʼohl′ and its Greek equivalent hai′des, 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 sheʼohl′ and hai′des are alternately rendered by the words “hell,” “grave,” and “pit,” but have instead simply transliterated them into English.

Nevertheless, since one’s entry into Sheol is represented as taking place through burial in an individual grave or at a burial site, words pertaining to such places of interment are used as parallel though not equivalent terms with Sheol.—Job 17:1, 13-16; 21:13, 32, 33; Ps 88:3-12.

Not my grave or yours, but the collective grave on mankind descended from Adam. Not Adam or eve, just their children.

CF gave a great technical answer concerning the various words about the grave of man.

Ecclesiastes 3:19, 20. "...there is an outcome* for humans and an outcome for animals; they all have the same outcome.+ As the one dies, so the other dies; and they all have but one spirit.+ So man has no superiority over animals, for everything is futile. 20 All are going to the same place.+ They all come from the dust,+ and they all are returning to the dust.."

This agrees with the sentence placed on Adam. Gen 3:19 tells us Adam returned to the dirt from whence he came.

Another word needs looking into. Gehenna. That has been translated as Hellfire. The word Gehenna identifies a place, the valley of the Sons of Hinnom. This was on the southeast side of Jerusalem. This was the place King Manasseh sacrificed his own children in fire to the false god Molech. This reprehensible practice sealed the doom of Israel as a nation.

Anyway, the Valley of Hinnom became the garbage dump for Jerusalem. To keep down the smell of rotting garbage and to keep it as clean as possible sulfur was used. Burning sulfur prevented the spread of disease and made the continued used of this dump tenable for the inhabitants of Jerusalem. The name of the dump became Gehenna. Thus it was an apt name synonymous with complete destruction. Jesus used it that way to drive home the point of destruction when he spoke in the sermon on the mount at Mathew 5:21, 29, 30; Matt 10:28 and more.

Gehenna is a graphic illustration to the people living there in and around Jerusalem. Even the bodies of criminals judged so vile as to not be worthy of a proper burial were thrown into this dump to be burned. Ironically the only living things in Gehenna were the flies and their larva (worms) which lived on the edges and consumes carcases not fully burned or which missed the sulfur fires.

Hope this helps to understand the grave and hell.

There is no hell with fire, (lake of fire, everlasting torment. The new testament Christians started that. If you read the old testament and specifically the story of the "worlds first parents" Adam and Eve, god never told them if they sinned they would go to hell.

He told them they would DIE. If hell as in lake of fire existed, don't you think god would have warned them about this lake of fire and so would have the early Abrahamic prophets if it was as important back then as it was in the NT? They didn't. The new Christian enthusiasts turned hell into a place of eternal torment where one literally burns forever and ever (FEAR BASED). Think really hard about that one. Imagine a creator making that an option for his "children" because they were disobedient. IT MAKES ZERO SENSE.

Hell is translated from multiple words, hades and Sheol mean the grave; but Gehenna and the others mean "lake of fire"; which is the second death in revalation 20.

I am not a JW, just a scholar of the word, who loves to study And break down the scriptures.

Revelations 20 says death and hell( hades-the grave) will be cast into the lake of fire, which is known as the second death.

Yes.

But so many people today hold on to the falsehood of eternal torment when the Bible makes it plainly clear that " All that your hand finds to do, do with your very power, for there is no work, nor devising, nor knowledge nor wisdom in She'ol, the place to which you are going." Eccl 9:10

Surely, hell is the common grave of ALL mankind.

http://www.jw.org/en

Here is a breakdown of words translated hell in the Bible:

IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

31 times from "Sheol," which means the grave."

IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

10 times from "Hades," which means "the grave."

12 times from "Gehenna," which means "the place of burning."

1 time from "Tartarus," which means "a place of darkness."

54 TIMES TOTAL

The literal Eternal flames of Hell, is a lie from the imaginary pit of Hell.

The HARD CORE Truth about HELL. I do not take this topic lightly.

http://www.jewishnotgreek.com/

depends how the soul reformulates in matter and time after this life,

ezekiel could be understood in this context - it hints at a process of becoming...not hell- i will only answer that text

Sheol. It's the grave, not hell.

Yes it is.

The fiery underworld is Gehenna, which won't appear until the final judgment and tribulation.