Reference: Pit
American
A reservoir, either natural or artificial, for water. Pits were sometimes used as dungeons, Ge 37:20; Jer 38:6; or being slightly covered, and baited, they served as traps to catch wild beasts, a device which illustrates the plots of designing men and women, Ps 119:85; Pr 22:14; 26:27; Eze 19:4. The word pit is also used to denote the grave, Ps 28:1; 30:3,9; and hell, Re 20:1.
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Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into one of the pits, and we will say, And evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams.
Unto thee, O Jehovah, will I call: My rock, be not thou deaf unto me; Lest, if thou be silent unto me, I become like them that go down into the pit.
O Jehovah, thou hast brought up my soul from Sheol; Thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.
What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth?
The proud have digged pits for me, Who are not according to thy law.
The mouth of strange women is a deep pit: He that is abhorred of Jehovah shall fall therein.
Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein; And he that rolleth a stone, it shall return upon him.
Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchijah the king's son, that was in the court of the guard: and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire; and Jeremiah sank in the mire.
The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit; and they brought him with hooks unto the land of Egypt.
And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand.
Easton
a hole in the ground (Ex 21:33-34), a cistern for water (Ge 37:24; Jer 14:3), a vault (Jer 41:9), a grave (Ps 30:3). It is used as a figure for mischief (Ps 9:15), and is the name given to the unseen place of woe (Re 20:1,3). The slime-pits in the vale of Siddim were wells which yielded asphalt (Ge 14:10).
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Now the vale of Siddim was full of slime pits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and they fell there, and they that remained fled to the mountain.
and they took him, and cast him into the pit: and the pit was empty, there was no water in it.
And if a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit and not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall therein, the owner of the pit shall make it good; he shall give money unto the owner thereof, and the dead beast'shall be his.
The nations are sunk down in the pit that they made: In the net which they hid is their own foot taken.
O Jehovah, thou hast brought up my soul from Sheol; Thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.
And their nobles send their little ones to the waters: they come to the cisterns, and find no water; they return with their vessels empty; they are put to shame and confounded, and cover their heads.
Now the pit wherein Ishmael cast all the dead bodies of the men whom he had slain, by the side of Gedaliah (the same was that which Asa the king had made for fear of Baasha king of Israel,) Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with them that were slain.
And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand.
and cast him into the abyss, and shut it , and sealed it over him, that he should deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years should be finished: after this he must be loosed for a little time.
Fausets
(1) She'ol, "Hades"; the covered, unseen world. (See HELL.)
(2) Shachath, "sunk and lightly covered [pit]" to entrap animals (Ps 9:16; 35:7); typifying "hopeless doom" (Job 33:18,24,28,30).
(3) Bor, "a pit or cistern once full of water, now empty", with miry clay beneath (Ps 40:2; Zec 9:11); used as dungeon wherein the captive has no water or food; so Jeremiah (Jer 38:6,9), Isa 51:14; hence symbolizing "the dishonored grave of the once haughty transgressor", with the idea of condign [deserved; appropriate] punishment in the unseen world, shadowed forth by the ignominious state of the body (Eze 31:14,16; 32:18,24). (See ABYSS on the "bottomless pit": Re 9:1-2; 20:1-2.)
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Then God is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom.
He hath redeemed my soul from going into the pit, And my life shall behold the light.
To bring back his soul from the pit, That he may be enlightened with the light of the living.
Jehovah hath made himself known, he hath executed judgment: The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah
For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit; Without cause have they digged a pit for my soul.
He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay; And he set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.
The captive exile shall speedily be loosed; and he shall not die and go down into the pit, neither shall his bread fail.
Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchijah the king's son, that was in the court of the guard: and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire; and Jeremiah sank in the mire.
My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon; and he is like to die in the place where he is, because of the famine; for there is no more bread in the city.
to the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves in their stature, neither set their top among the thick boughs, nor that their mighty ones stand up on their height, even all that drink water: for they are all delivered unto death, to the nether parts of the earth, in the midst of the children of men, with them that go down to the pit.
I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to Sheol with them that descend into the pit; and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, were comforted in the nether parts of the earth.
Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, and cast them down, even her, and the daughters of the famous nations, unto the nether parts of the earth, with them that go down into the pit.
There is Elam and all her multitude round about her grave; all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who are gone down uncircumcised into the nether parts of the earth, who caused their terror in the land of the living, and have borne their shame with them that go down to the pit.
As for thee also, because of the blood of thy covenant I have set free thy prisoners from the pit wherein is no water.
And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven fallen unto the earth: and there was given to him the key of the pit of the abyss. And he opened the pit of the abyss; and there went up a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years,
Hastings
Of the dozen Heb. words, besides two Gr. words in NT, rendered 'pit' in English Version, the following are the most important.
1. The term b
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Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into one of the pits, and we will say, And evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams.
And if a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit and not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall therein,
Nevertheless a fountain or a pit wherein is a gathering of water shall be clean: but that which toucheth their carcass shall be unclean.
When the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait (for the people were distressed), then the people did hide themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and in coverts, and in pits.
When the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait (for the people were distressed), then the people did hide themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and in coverts, and in pits.
Behold, he is hid now in some pit, or in some other place: and it will come to pass, when some of them are fallen at the first, that whosoever heareth it will say, There is a slaughter among the people that follow Absalom.
And they took Absalom, and cast him into the great pit in the forest, and raised over him a very great heap of stones: and all Israel fled every one to his tent.
Unto thee, O Jehovah, will I call: My rock, be not thou deaf unto me; Lest, if thou be silent unto me, I become like them that go down into the pit.
Let us swallow them up alive as Sheol, And whole, as those that go down into the pit;
Yet thou shalt be brought down to Sheol, to the uttermost parts of the pit.
Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of Moab, saith Jehovah.
The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit; and they brought him with hooks unto the land of Egypt.
Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces; and they spread their net over him; he was taken in their pit.
But he that received the one went away and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money.
And he began to speak unto them in parables. A man planted a vineyard, and set a hedge about it, and digged a pit for the winepress, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into another country.
And he said unto them, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a well, and will not straightway draw him up on a sabbath day?
And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven fallen unto the earth: and there was given to him the key of the pit of the abyss.
Morish
There are several Hebrew words translated 'pit.' The principal are:
1. sheol, 'the grave, hades, hell.' Nu 16:30,33; Job 17:16.
2. shachath, 'a pit, a pitfall to entrap animals,' place of doom and corruption. Job 33:18,24,28,30; Ps 9:15; 30:9; 35:7; Eze 28:8; etc.
3. bor, beer, 'pit or well dug for water,' but which could be used for a dungeon. Ge 37:20-29; Ps 28:1; 40:2; 88:4,6; Eze 26:20; Zec 9:11; etc. See BOTTOMLESS PIT.
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Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into one of the pits, and we will say, And evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams. And Reuben heard it, and delivered him out of their hand, and said, Let us not take his life. read more. And Reuben said unto them, Shed no blood; cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but lay no hand upon him: that he might deliver him out of their hand, to restore him to his father. And it came to pass, when Joseph was come unto his brethren, that they stripped Joseph of his coat, the coat of many colors that was on him; and they took him, and cast him into the pit: and the pit was empty, there was no water in it. And they sat down to eat bread: and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt. And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brother and conceal his blood? Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother, our flesh. And his brethren hearkened unto him. And there passed by Midianites, merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they brought Joseph into Egypt. And Reuben returned unto the pit; and, behold, Joseph was not in the pit; and he rent his clothes.
But if Jehovah make a new thing, and the ground open its mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down alive into Sheol; then ye shall understand that these men have despised Jehovah.
So they, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into Sheol: and the earth closed upon them, and they perished from among the assembly.
Then God is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom.
He hath redeemed my soul from going into the pit, And my life shall behold the light.
To bring back his soul from the pit, That he may be enlightened with the light of the living.
The nations are sunk down in the pit that they made: In the net which they hid is their own foot taken.
Unto thee, O Jehovah, will I call: My rock, be not thou deaf unto me; Lest, if thou be silent unto me, I become like them that go down into the pit.
What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth?
For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit; Without cause have they digged a pit for my soul.
He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay; And he set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.
I am reckoned with them that go down into the pit; I am as a man that hath no help,
then will I bring thee down with them that descend into the pit, to the people of old time, and will make thee to dwell in the nether parts of the earth, in the places that are desolate of old, with them that go down to the pit, that thou be not inhabited; and I will set glory in the land of the living:
They shall bring thee down to the pit; and thou shalt die the death of them that are slain, in the heart of the seas.
As for thee also, because of the blood of thy covenant I have set free thy prisoners from the pit wherein is no water.
Smith
Pit.
[HELL]
See Hell