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.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
now therefore, come and let us slay him and cast him into a cistern, and we will say, Some evil beast has devoured him; and we shall see what will become of his dreams.
Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent unto me lest, if thou be silent unto me, I become like those that go down into the grave.
O LORD, thou hast brought up my soul from Sheol; thou gavest me life from my descent into the grave.
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 dug pits for me, but they do not proceed according to thy law.
The mouth of strange women is a deep pit; he that is abhorred of the LORD shall fall therein.
Whosoever digs a pit shall fall therein, and he that rolls a stone, it will return upon him.
Then they took Jeremiah and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammelech, 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; so Jeremiah sunk in the mire.
The Gentiles also heard of him; he was taken in their trap, and they brought him with chains unto the land of Egypt.
And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit 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).
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And the vale of Siddim was full of slimepits, and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled and fell there; and those that remained fled to the mountain.
and they took him and cast him into the cistern; and the pit was empty, there was no water in it.
And if someone shall open a pit or if someone shall dig a pit and not cover it and an ox or an ass falls in it, the owner of the pit shall make it good and give money unto their owner, and the dead beast shall be his.
The Gentiles are sunk down in the pit that they made: in the net which they hid their own foot is taken.
O LORD, thou hast brought up my soul from Sheol; thou gavest me life from my descent into the grave.
And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters: they came to the pits and found no water; they returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded and covered their heads.
Now the pit in which Ishmael had cast all the dead bodies of the men, whom he had slain because of Gedaliah, was the same which Asa the king had made for fear of Baasha king of Israel: and Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with those that were slain.
And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
and cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal upon it, that he should deceive the Gentiles no more, until the thousand years should be fulfilled; and after it is necessary that he be loosed a little while.
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.)
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Thus he keeps back his soul from the pit and his life from perishing by the sword.
to tell him that God had mercy on him, that he delivered him from going down to the pit; that he found a ransom;
God will ransom his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light.
to turn back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living.
The LORD is known by the judgment which he has executed; the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion (meditate on this for ever). Selah.
For without cause they have hid their net for me in a pit, which without cause they have dug for my soul.
He brought me up also out of the pit of hopelessness, out of the miry clay and set my feet upon a rock and straightened my steps.
The prisoner is anxious that he may be loosed and that he should not die in the pit nor that his bread should fail.
Then they took Jeremiah and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammelech, 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; so Jeremiah sunk 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 for hunger 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 for their height, neither shoot up their tops among the thick boughs, neither in their branches shall all that drink waters stand up in their height: for they shall all be delivered unto death, to the lower parts of the earth, in the midst of the sons of men, with those that go down to the grave.
I made the Gentiles to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to Sheol with those that descend into the pit: and all the choice trees of Eden, and the best of Lebanon, all that drink waters, shall be comforted in the lower parts of the earth.
Son of man, lament over the multitude of Egypt and cast him down and the habitations of the strong Gentiles into the lower parts of the earth with those that go down into the grave.
There is Elam and all his multitude round about his grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which are gone down uncircumcised into the lowest parts of the earth because they spread their terror in the land of the living; yet they have borne their shame with those that go down to the grave.
As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have taken thy prisoners out of the pit in which there is no water.
And the fifth angel sounded the trumpet, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth; and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit, and there arose 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 come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, the serpent of old, which 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
See Verses Found in Dictionary
now therefore, come and let us slay him and cast him into a cistern, and we will say, Some evil beast has devoured him; and we shall see what will become of his dreams.
And if someone shall open a pit or if someone shall dig a pit and not cover it and an ox or an ass falls in it,
Nevertheless a fountain or cistern where water is collected shall be clean; but that which touches their carcase shall be unclean.
When the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait (for the people were distressed), then the people hid themselves in caves and in thickets and in rocks and in high places and in pits.
When the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait (for the people were distressed), then the people hid themselves in caves and in thickets and in rocks and in high places and in pits.
Behold, he is hid now in some pit or in some other place, and if some of thy men are overthrown at the beginning, whoever hears of it will say, There is a slaughter among the people that follow Absalom.
And they took Absalom and cast him into a great pit in the forest and laid a very great heap of stones upon him; and all Israel fled each one to his tent.
Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent unto me lest, if thou be silent unto me, I become like those that go down into the grave.
Let us swallow them up alive as Sheol and whole as those that go down into the pit;
Yet thou shalt be cast down to Sheol, to the sides of the pit.
Fear and the pit and the snare are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
Fear and the pit and the snare shall be upon thee, O inhabitant of Moab, said the LORD.
The Gentiles also heard of him; he was taken in their trap, and they brought him with chains unto the land of Egypt.
Then the Gentiles 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 one went and dug in the earth and hid his lord's money.
And he began to speak unto them by parables. A certain man planted a vineyard and set a hedge about it and dug a place for the winefat and built a tower and let it out to husbandmen and went far away.
and answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day?
And the fifth angel sounded the trumpet, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth; and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
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.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
now therefore, come and let us slay him and cast him into a cistern, and we will say, Some evil beast has devoured him; and we shall see what will become of his dreams. When Reuben heard it, he delivered him out of their hands and said, Let us not kill him. read more. And Reuben said unto them, Shed no blood but cast him into this cistern that is in the wilderness and lay no hand upon him that he might rid him out of their hands to deliver him to his father again. And it came to pass, when Joseph was come unto his brethren, that they stripped Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colours that was on him; and they took him and cast him into the cistern; 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 company of Ishmeelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing aromas and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt. Then 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 Ishmeelites and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother and our flesh. And his brethren were content. And when the Midianite merchantmen passed by, they took and lifted up Joseph out of the cistern and sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they brought Joseph into Egypt. And Reuben returned unto the cistern; and, behold, Joseph was not inside, and he rent his clothes.
But if the LORD does a new thing and the earth opens her mouth and swallows them up with all their things and they go down alive into Sheol, then ye shall know that these men have provoked the LORD.
They and all that they had went down alive into Sheol, and the earth closed upon them, and they perished from among the congregation.
They shall go down to the bars of Sheol, and together they shall rest in the dust.
Thus he keeps back his soul from the pit and his life from perishing by the sword.
to tell him that God had mercy on him, that he delivered him from going down to the pit; that he found a ransom;
God will ransom his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light.
to turn back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living.
The Gentiles are sunk down in the pit that they made: in the net which they hid their own foot is taken.
Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent unto me lest, if thou be silent unto me, I become like those that go down into the grave.
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 they have hid their net for me in a pit, which without cause they have dug for my soul.
He brought me up also out of the pit of hopelessness, out of the miry clay and set my feet upon a rock and straightened my steps.
I am counted with those that go down into the pit; I am as a man that has no strength:
Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps.
And I shall bring thee down with those that descend into the grave, with the people of the age, and shall set thee in the lowest part of the earth, as the deserts of old, with those that go down to the grave, that thou not be inhabited again; and I shall set glory in the land of the living;
They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die of the death of those that are slain in the midst of the seas.
As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have taken thy prisoners out of the pit in which there is no water.
Smith
Pit.
[HELL]
See Hell