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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And now come and let us kill him, and cast him into one of the pits, and we will say, An evil beast has devoured him; and we will see what becomes of his dreams.
{A Psalm of David.} Unto thee, Jehovah, do I call; my rock, be not silent unto me, lest, if thou keep silence toward me, I become like them that go down into the pit.
Jehovah, thou hast brought up my soul from Sheol, thou hast quickened me from among those that go down to the pit.
What profit is there in my blood, in my going down to the pit? shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth?
The proud have digged pits for me, which is not according to thy law.
The mouth of strange women is a deep ditch: he with whom Jehovah is displeased shall fall therein.
Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein; and he that rolleth a stone, it shall return upon him.
Then they took Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchijah the son of Hammelech, which 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.
And the nations heard of him; he was taken in their pit, and they brought him with nose-rings into the land of Egypt.
And I saw an angel descending from the 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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And the vale of Siddim was full of pits of asphalt. And the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and fell there: and they that remained fled to the mountain.
and they took him and cast him into the pit; now the pit was empty there was no water in it.
And if a man open a pit, or if a man dig a pit, and do not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall into it, the owner of the pit shall make it good, shall give money to the owner of them; and the dead ox shall be his.
The nations are sunk down in the pit that they made; in the net that they hid is their own foot taken.
Jehovah, thou hast brought up my soul from Sheol, thou hast quickened me from among those that go down to the pit.
And their nobles send their little ones for water: they come to the pits, they find no water; they return with their vessels empty; they are ashamed, they are confounded, and have covered their heads.
And the pit into which Ishmael had cast all the dead bodies of the men whom he had slain by the side of Gedaliah was the one which Asa the king had made for fear of Baasha king of Israel: Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with the slain.
And I saw an angel descending from the 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 not any more deceive the nations until the thousand years were completed; after these things 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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He keepeth back his soul from the pit, and his life from passing away by the sword.
Then he will be gracious unto him, and say, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom.
He hath delivered my soul from going into the pit, and my life shall see the light.
To bring back his soul from the pit, that he may be enlightened with the light of the living.
Jehovah is known by the judgment he hath executed: the wicked is ensnared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah.
For without cause have they hidden for me their net in a pit; without cause they have digged it for my soul.
And he brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock; he hath established my goings:
He that is bowed down shall speedily be loosed, and he shall not die in the pit, nor shall his bread fail.
Then they took Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchijah the son of Hammelech, which 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, O king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to the prophet Jeremiah, whom they have cast into the dungeon; and he will die by reason of the famine in the place where he is; 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, nor set their top amidst the thick boughs, and that none of them that drink water stand up in his height by himself; for they are all given over unto death in the lower 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 go down into the pit; and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, were comforted in the lower parts of the earth.
Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, and cast them down, her and the daughters of the famous nations, unto the lower 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 unto the lower parts of the earth, who caused their terror in the land of the living; yet have they borne their confusion with them that go down to the pit.
As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant, I will send forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water.
And the fifth angel sounded his trumpet: and I saw a star out of the heaven fallen to the earth; and there was given to it the key of the pit of the abyss. And it opened the pit of the abyss; and there went up smoke out of the pit as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke of the pit.
And I saw an angel descending from the heaven, having the key of the abyss, and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan, and bound him 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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And now come and let us kill him, and cast him into one of the pits, and we will say, An evil beast has devoured him; and we will see what becomes of his dreams.
And if a man open a pit, or if a man dig a pit, and do not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall into it,
Nevertheless, a spring or a well, a quantity of water, shall be clean. But he that toucheth their carcase shall be unclean.
And the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait (for the people were distressed); and the people hid themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in cliffs, and in strongholds, and in pits.
And the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait (for the people were distressed); and the people hid themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in cliffs, and in strongholds, and in pits.
Behold, he is hid now in some pit, or some such place; and it will come to pass, when some of them fall at the first, whoever heareth it will say, There has been slaughter among the people that follow Absalom,
And they took Absalom, and cast him into a great pit in the wood, and raised a very great heap of stones upon him. And all Israel fled every one to his tent.
{A Psalm of David.} Unto thee, Jehovah, do I call; my rock, be not silent unto me, lest, if thou keep silence toward 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;
none the less art thou brought down to Sheol, to the recesses of the pit.
Fear, and the pit, and the snare shall be upon thee, O inhabitant of Moab, saith Jehovah.
And the nations heard of him; he was taken in their pit, and they brought him with nose-rings into the land of Egypt.
Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces, and spread their net over him; he was taken in their pit.
But he that had received the one went and dug in the earth, and hid the money of his lord.
And he began to say to them in parables, A man planted a vineyard, and made a fence round it and dug a wine-vat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and left the country.
And answering he said to them, Of which of you shall an ass or ox fall into a well, that he does not straightway pull him up on the sabbath day?
And the fifth angel sounded his trumpet: and I saw a star out of the heaven fallen to the earth; and there was given to it 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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And now come and let us kill him, and cast him into one of the pits, and we will say, An evil beast has devoured him; and we will see what becomes 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 to them, Shed no blood: cast him into this pit which is in the wilderness; but lay no hand upon him in order that he might deliver him out of their hand, to bring him to his father again. And it came to pass when Joseph came to his brethren, that they stripped Joseph of his vest, the vest of many colours, which he had on; and they took him and cast him into the pit; now 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 came from Gilead; and their camels bore tragacanth, and balsam, and ladanum going to carry it down to Egypt. And Judah said to his brethren, What profit is it that we kill our brother and secrete his blood? Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites; but let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother, our flesh. And his brethren hearkened to him. And Midianitish men, merchants, passed by; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty silver-pieces; and they brought Joseph to Egypt. And Reuben returned to the pit, and behold, Joseph was not in the pit; and he rent his garments,
but if Jehovah make a new thing, and the ground open its mouth, and swallow them up, and all that they have, and they go down alive into Sheol, then ye shall know that these men have despised Jehovah.
And they went down, they and all that they had, alive into Sheol, and the earth covered them; and they perished from among the congregation.
It shall go down to the bars of Sheol, when our rest shall be together in the dust.
He keepeth back his soul from the pit, and his life from passing away by the sword.
Then he will be gracious unto him, and say, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom.
He hath delivered my soul from going into the pit, and my life shall see 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 that they hid is their own foot taken.
{A Psalm of David.} Unto thee, Jehovah, do I call; my rock, be not silent unto me, lest, if thou keep silence toward me, I become like them that go down into the pit.
What profit is there in my blood, in my going down to the pit? shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth?
For without cause have they hidden for me their net in a pit; without cause they have digged it for my soul.
And he brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock; he hath established my goings:
I am reckoned with them that go down into the pit; I am as a man that hath no strength:
then will I bring thee down, with them that go down to the pit, to the people of old time, and will cause thee to dwell in the lower parts of the earth, in places 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 deaths of those that are slain in the heart of the seas.
As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant, I will send forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water.
Smith
Pit.
[HELL]
See Hell