The Bible uses vivid imagery to describe Hell (often referred to as Gehenna, the lake of fire, or the second death) as a place of punishment and separation from God. It is depicted as a place of unquenchable fire, where there is “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 13:42). These descriptions serve to underscore the severity of the spiritual and emotional suffering that souls separated from God experience.

Regarding the nature of suffering without a physical body, the Bible suggests that after death, individuals exist in a state that is different from our physical existence on Earth but are still capable of experiencing joy or suffering. In the story of Lazarus and the rich man found in Luke 16:19-31, the rich man, despite being physically dead, is conscious and in torment in Hades, showing that the soul is conscious after death and capable of experiencing suffering or comfort.

It is written in Revelation 20:14-15, “Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” This passage suggests that the ultimate fate of the wicked is a state of existence that is fundamentally different from life as we know it, yet it involves real experiential consequences.

It’s also important to note that the Bible speaks of a resurrection and a judgment to come. In 2 Corinthians 5:10, it says, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” And in Revelation 20:13, it says, “The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done.”

These passages indicate that there is a future bodily resurrection for both the just and the unjust, which suggests that the ultimate experience of either reward or punishment will involve the whole person, including a resurrected body. However, the exact nature of this resurrection body and how it experiences suffering or bliss is something the Bible describes in terms of outcomes rather than detailed mechanics. The focus is more on the moral and spiritual implications of one’s relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ and less on the physical specifics of the afterlife.