What does Psalm 9:17 mean?

As is explained throughout the Bible, those who reject God and pursue evil will end up in Sheol. As used in the Old Testament, Sheol means the grave, or the realm of the dead. Those who have opposed God will be left there, in some state of death and misery, as opposed to those who honor God and will be rescued from Sheol (Psalm 16:10; Hosea 13:14).

Later Scriptures provide more detail about the nature of death for those who defy the Lord. The realm of the dead is neither silent nor a place of unconscious existence. It is a place of painful memory and conscious suffering. Jesus told a story about a rich man who died and went to Hades, the New Testament designation of the place appointed for departed unbelievers. The rich man was fully conscious. He was suffering in anguish (Luke 16:24). He was separated from Paradise (Luke 16:23, 26). He had remorseful memory of his life on earth. Abraham told him to remember the disparity that existed on earth between him and the poor man Lazarus (Luke 16:25).

In hell, the wicked cannot look forward to a second chance. Their eternal fate is sealed, and they must suffer forever apart from God. When Jesus judges the nations at His second coming, He consigns them to eternal punishment (Matthew 25:46).