'Pit' in the Bible

Now then, come and let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits (cisterns, underground water storage); then we will say [to our father], ‘A wild animal killed and devoured him’; and we shall see what will become of his dreams!”

Reuben said to them, “Do not shed his blood, but [instead] throw him [alive] into the pit that is here in the wilderness, and do not lay a hand on him [to kill him]”—[he said this so] that he could rescue him from them and return him [safely] to his father.

then they took him and threw him into the pit. Now the pit was empty; there was no water in it.

Now Reuben [unaware of what had happened] returned to the pit, and [to his great alarm found that] Joseph was not in the pit; so he tore his clothes [in deep sorrow].

“If a man leaves a pit open, or digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,

the owner of the pit shall make restitution; he shall give money to the animal’s owner, but the dead [animal] shall be his.

Behold, he has hidden himself [even] now in one of the ravines or in another place; and when some of your troops fall at the first attack, whoever hears about it will say, ‘There has been a defeat among the people who follow Absalom.’

They took [down the body of] Absalom and threw him into a deep pit in the forest and set up a huge mound of stones over him. Then all Israel fled, everyone to his own tent.

Then Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel, who had done many notable acts, killed two [famous] warriors of Moab. He also went down and killed a lion in the middle of a pit on a snowy day.

Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a courageous man of Kabzeel who had done great things, killed the two sons of Ariel of Moab. Also he went down and killed a lion in a pit on a snowy day.

“For the wicked is thrown into a net by his own feet (wickedness),And he steps on the webbing [of the lattice-covered pit].

He holds back his soul from the pit [of destruction],And his life from passing over into Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead).

Then the angel is gracious to him, and says,‘Spare him from going down to the pit [of destruction];I have found a ransom [a consideration, or reason for redemption, an atonement]!’

‘God has redeemed my life from going to the pit [of destruction],And my life shall see the light.’”

To bring his life back from the pit [of destruction],That he may be enlightened with the light of the living.

He has dug a pit and hollowed it out,And has fallen into the [very] pit which he made [as a trap].

The nations have sunk down in the pit which they have made;In the net which they hid, their own foot has been caught.

To you I call, O Lord,My rock, do not be deaf to me,For if You are silent to me,I will become like those who go down to the pit (grave).

O Lord, You have brought my life up from Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead);You have kept me alive, so that I would not go down to the pit (grave).

“What profit is there in my blood (death), if I go down to the pit (grave)?Will the dust praise You? Will it declare Your faithfulness [to man]?

For without cause they hid their net for me;Without cause they dug a pit [of destruction] for my life.

He brought me up out of a horrible pit [of tumult and of destruction], out of the miry clay,And He set my feet upon a rock, steadying my footsteps and establishing my path.

So that he should live on eternally,That he should never see the pit (grave) and undergo decay.

But You, O God, will bring down the wicked to the pit of destruction;Men of blood and treachery will not live out half their days.But I will [boldly and unwaveringly] trust in You.

They set a net for my steps;My very life was bowed down.They dug a pit before me;Into the midst of it they themselves have fallen. Selah.

Do not let the floodwater overwhelm me,Nor the deep waters swallow me up,Nor the pit [of Sheol] shut its mouth over me.

I am counted among those who go down to the pit (grave);I am like a man who has no strength [a mere shadow],

You have laid me in the lowest pit,In dark places, in the depths.

That You may grant him [power to calm himself and find] peace in the days of adversity,Until the pit is dug for the wicked and ungodly.

Who redeems your life from the pit,Who crowns you [lavishly] with lovingkindness and tender mercy;

He sent His word and healed them,And rescued them from their destruction.

Answer me quickly, O Lord, my spirit fails;Do not hide Your face from me,Or I will become like those who go down into the pit (grave).

Let us swallow them alive like Sheol (the place of the dead),Even whole, as those who go down to the pit [of death];

The mouth of an immoral woman is a deep pit [deep and inescapable];He who is cursed by the Lord [because of his adulterous sin] will fall into it.

For a prostitute is a deep pit,And an immoral woman is a narrow well.

Whoever digs a pit [for another man’s feet] will fall into it,And he who rolls a stone [up a hill to do mischief], it will come back on him.

He who leads the upright astray on an evil pathWill himself fall into his own pit,But the blameless will inherit good.

A man who is burdened with the guilt of human blood (murder)Will be a fugitive until death; let no one support him or give him refuge.

He who digs a pit [for others] may fall into it, and a serpent may bite him who breaks through a [stone] wall.

“But [in fact] you will be brought down to Sheol,To the remote recesses of the pit (the region of the dead).

“But you [king of Babylon] have been cast out of your tomb (denied burial)Like a rejected branch,Clothed with the slain who are pierced by the sword,Who go down to the stones of the pit [into which carcasses are thrown],Like a dead body trampled [underfoot].

Terror and pit [of destruction] and snareConfront you, O inhabitant of the earth.

Then it will be that he who flees at the sound of terror will fall into the pit,And he who comes up out of the pit will be caught in the snare;For the windows of heaven are opened, and the foundations of the earth tremble.

They will be gathered togetherAs prisoners [are gathered] in a dungeon;They will be shut up in prison,And after many days they will be visited and punished.

“Indeed, it was for my own well-being that I had such bitterness;But You have loved back my life from the pit of nothingness (destruction),For You have cast all my sins behind Your back.

“For Sheol cannot praise or thank You,Death cannot praise You and rejoice in You;Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness.

The [captive] exile will soon be set free, and will not die in the dungeon, nor will his food be lacking.

Should good be repaid with evil?Yet they have dug a pit for me.Remember [with compassion] that I stood before YouTo speak good on their behalf,To turn Your anger away from them.

Let an outcry be heard from their housesWhen You suddenly bring [a troop of] raiders upon them,For they have dug a pit to capture meAnd have hidden snares for my feet.

So they took Jeremiah and threw him into the cistern of Malchijah the king’s son, which was in the court of the guardhouse; and they let Jeremiah down [into the cistern] with ropes. Now there was no water in the cistern but only mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud.

Now Ebed-melech the Ethiopian (Cushite), one of the eunuchs who was in the king’s palace, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the cistern, and while the king was sitting in the Gate of Benjamin,

“My lord the king, these men have acted wickedly in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet whom they have thrown into the cistern; and he will die [of hunger] where he is because of the famine, for there is no more bread in the city.”

Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, “Take thirty men from here with you and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.”

So Ebed-melech took the men with him and went into the palace of the king to a place under the storeroom and took from there old rags and worn-out clothes and let them down by ropes into the cistern to Jeremiah.

So they pulled Jeremiah up with the ropes and took him up out of the cistern; and Jeremiah remained in the court of the guardhouse.

Yet when they came into the city, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the men who were with him slaughtered them and threw them into the cistern (underground water reservoir).

Now the cistern into which Ishmael had thrown all the corpses of the men whom he had killed along with Gedaliah was the one which King Asa [of Judah] had made [about three hundred years earlier] on account of King Baasha of Israel [believing that Baasha would lay siege to Mizpah]. Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with [the bodies of] those who were killed.

“Terror and pit and snare are before you,O inhabitant of Moab,” says the Lord.

“The one who flees from the terrorWill fall into the pit,And the one who gets up out of the pitWill be taken and caught in the trap;For I shall bring upon it, even upon Moab,The year of their punishment,” says the Lord.

They silenced me in the pitAnd placed a stone over me.

‘The nations heard about him;He was captured in their pit,And they brought him with hooksTo the land of Egypt.

‘Then the nations set against him (the king)On every side from the provinces,And they spread their net over him;He was captured in their pit.

then I will bring you down with those who descend into the pit (the place of the dead), to the people of old, and I will make you [Tyre] live in the depths of the earth, like the ancient ruins, with those who go down to the pit, so that you will not be inhabited; but I will set glory and splendor in the land of the living.

‘They will bring you down to the pit [of destruction],And you will die the death of all those who dieIn the heart of the seas.

so that none of the trees by the waters may exalt themselves because of their height, nor set their top among the clouds, nor their well-watered mighty ones stand [arrogantly] in their height. For they have all been handed over to death, to the earth beneath, among the sons of men, with those who go down to the pit (the grave).”

I made the nations quake at the sound of its fall when I cast it down to Sheol with those who descend into the pit; and all the well-watered trees of Eden, the choicest and the best of Lebanon, will be comforted in the earth beneath [at Assyria’s downfall].

“Son of man, wail over the hordes of Egypt and cast them down, both her and the daughters of the powerful and majestic nations, to the nether world (the place of the dead), with those who go down to the pit;

whose graves are set in the remotest parts of the pit and her army is all around her grave. All of them are slain, fallen by the sword, who spread terror in the land of the living.

“Elam [a conquest of Assyria] is there and all her hordes around her grave; all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who have gone down uncircumcised to the lower parts of the earth, who made their terror spread in the land of the living and bore their shame and defeat with those who went down to the pit.

They have made a bed for her among the slain with all her hordes. Her graves are around it; they are all uncircumcised (barbaric, boorish, crude), slain by the sword (for their terror had been spread in the land of the living), and they bore their disgrace with those who go down to the pit; they were laid among the slain.

“Edom is there also, her kings and all her princes, who for all their power and strength are laid with those who were slain by the sword; they will lie [in shame and defeat] with the uncircumcised and with those who go down to the pit.

“The princes of the north are there also, all of them, and all the Sidonians, who in spite of the terror resulting from their power, have gone down in shame with the slain. So they lay down uncircumcised with those slain by the sword and bore their disgrace with those who go down to the pit.

“I descended to the [very] roots of the mountains.The earth with its bars closed behind me [bolting me in] forever,Yet You have brought up my life from the pit (death), O Lord my God.

As for you also, because of the blood of My covenant with you [My chosen people, the covenant that was sealed with blood]I have freed your prisoners from the waterless pit.