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 some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams.
{A Psalm of David.} Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.
O LORD, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: 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, which are not after thy law.
The mouth of strange women is a deep pit: he that is abhorred of the LORD shall fall therein.
Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein: and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him.
Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammelech, that was in the court of the prison: and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire: so Jeremiah sunk in the mire.
The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit, 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).
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And the vale of Siddim was full of slimepits; 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 a 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, and give money unto the owner of them; and the dead beast shall be his.
The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made: in the net which they hid is their own foot taken.
O LORD, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.
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 wherein Ishmael had cast all the dead bodies of the men, whom he had slain because of Gedaliah, was it which Asa the king had made for fear of Baasha king of Israel: and Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with them 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 him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
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 he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom.
He will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light.
To bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living.
The LORD is known by the judgment which he executeth: 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, which without cause they have digged for my soul.
He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.
The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail.
Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammelech, that was in the court of the prison: 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 top among the thick boughs, neither their trees stand up in their height, 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 hell with them that descend into the pit: and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, shall be 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, which are gone down uncircumcised into the nether parts of the earth, which caused their terror in the land of the living; yet have they borne their shame with them that go down to the pit.
As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water.
And the fifth angel sounded, 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 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 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, that old serpent, 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
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Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some 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 pit, wherein there is plenty of water, shall be clean: but that which toucheth 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 did hide 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 did hide 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 it will come to pass, when some of them be overthrown 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 a great pit in the wood, and laid a very great heap of stones upon him: and all Israel fled every one to his tent.
{A Psalm of David.} Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.
Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit:
Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
Fear, and the pit, and the snare, shall be upon thee, O inhabitant of Moab, saith the LORD.
The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit, and they brought him with chains unto 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 one went and digged 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 an hedge about it, and digged a place for the winefat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country.
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, 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.
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Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams. And Reuben heard it, and 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 pit 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 stript Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colours that was on him; And they took him, and cast him into a 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 company of Ishmeelites came 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 Ishmeelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother and our flesh. And his brethren were content. Then there passed by Midianites merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites 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 the LORD make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down quick into the pit; then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the LORD.
They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them: and they perished from among the congregation.
They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust.
Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom.
He will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light.
To bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living.
The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made: in the net which they hid is their own foot taken.
{A Psalm of David.} Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent to 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, which without cause they have digged for my soul.
He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.
I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength:
When I shall bring thee down with them that descend into the pit, with the people of old time, and shall set thee in the low parts of the earth, in places desolate of old, with them that go down to the pit, that thou be not inhabited; and I shall set glory in the land of the living;
They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas.
As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water.
Smith
Pit.
[HELL]
See Hell