Pit
PIT
A reservoir, either natural or artificial, for water. Pits were sometimes used as dungeons, Gen 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, Psa 119:85 ; Pro 22:14 ; 26:27; Eze 19:4 . The word pit is also used to denote the grave, Psa 28:1 ; 30:3,9; and hell, Jer 20:1 .
Fuente: American Tract Society Bible Dictionary
Pit
In the A. V. this word appears with a figurative as well as a literal meaning. It passes from the facts that belong to the outward aspect of Palestine and its cities to states or regions of the spiritual world. With this power it is used to represent several Hebrew and Greek words, and the starting-point which the literal meaning presents for the spiritual is, in each case, a subject of some interest.
1. Of these bor, (root , cognate , beer, a well), occurs most frequently, and means a deep hole or pit, dug in the first instance for a well, or a cistern hewn or cut in stone, a reservoir, which the Orientals are in the habit of preparing in those regions where there are few or no springs, for the purpose of preserving rain-water for travellers and cattle. These cisterns and trenches are often without water, no supply being obtainable for them except from the rain. In old decayed cisterns the water leaks out, or becomes slimy (Jeremiah 2, 13). Such cisterns or pits, when without water, were often used in the East apparently for three purposes:
(1) As a place of sepulture (Psa 28:1; Psa 30:4; Isa 38:18), hence , they that go down to the pit-a phrase of frequent occurrence, employed sometimes to denote dying without hope, but commonly a simple going down to the place of the dead (see Gesen. Lex. s.v.); also, the graves set in the sides of the pit (Exo 32:23), the recesses cut out for purposes of burial; or they might be the natural fissures in the rocks, abounding in all limestone formations, of which the rocks of Syria and Palestine chiefly consist.
(2) A prison: they shall be gathered as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up (Isa 24:22; also Jer 37:16; Exo 12:29). The pit or dungeon was a common place of punishment in the East, and very dreadful it was, as the case of often to be left to a slow death by starvation; and to be saved from such a doom was regarded as the greatest of all deliverances. Hence it was used
(3) as a place of destruction (Zec 9:11). In the case of Joseph, Reuben suggested the pit as a device for saving his brother; the others hostile to Joseph adopted it as the most secret, and, they might think, the least guilty method of making away with him (Gen 37:22-29).
As remarked above, in this word, as in the cognate , bee (which is likewise rendered pit in Gen 14:10; Psa 55:23; Psa 69:15; Pro 23:27), the special thought is that of a pit or well dug for water (Gesen. Thesaur. s.v.). The process of desynonymizing which goes on in all languages seems to have confined the former to the state of the well or cistern, dug into the rock, but no longer filled with water. Thus, where the sense in both cases is figurative, and the same English word is used, we have pit (bedr) connected with the deep water, the water- flood, the deep (Psa 69:16), while in pit (=) there is nothing but the miry clay (Psa 40:2). Its dreariest feature is that there is no water in it (Zec 9:11). So far the idea involved has been rather that of misery and despair than of death. But in the phrase they that go down to the pit () it becomes even more constantly than the synonyms noticed below (sheol, shachath) the representative of the world of the dead (Eze 31:14; Eze 31:16; Eze 32:18; Eze 32:24; Psa 28:1; Psa 143:7). There may have been two reasons for this transfer:
1. The wide, deep excavation became the place of burial. The graves were set in the sides of the pit (bor) (Eze 32:24). To one looking into it, it was visibly the home of the dead, while the vaguer, more mysterious Sheol carried the thoughts further to an invisible home.
2. The pit, however, in this sense, was never simply equivalent to burial-place. There is always implied in it a thought of scorn and condemnation. This, too, had its origin apparently in the use made of the excavations, which had either never been wells, or had lost the supply of water. The prisoner in the land of his enemies was left to perish in the pit (bor) (Zec 9:11). The greatest of all deliverances is that the captive exile is released from the slow death of starvation in it (shachath, Isa 51:14). The history of Jeremiah, cast into the dungeon or pit (bor) (Jer 38:6; Jer 38:9), let down into its depths with cords, sinking into the filth at the bottom (here also there is no water), with death by hunger staring him in the face, shows how terrible an instrument of punishment was such a pit. The condition of the Athenian prisoners in the stone quarries of Syracuse (Thuc. 7:87), the Persian punishment of the (Ctesias, Pers. 48), the oubliettes of mediaeval prisons, present instances of cruelty more or less analogous. It is not strange that with these associations of material horror clustering round, it should have involved more of the idea of a place of punishment for the haughty or unjust than did the sheol or the grave. SEE WELL.
2. Shchath, , of which, as well as in the cognate , shuchh (rendered pit in Pro 20:14; Jer 2:6; Jer 18:20; Jer 18:22), . shechuth (pit, Pro 28:10), , shechith (pit, Lam 4:20; destruction, Psa 107:20), and , shichah (pit, Psa 57:6; Psa 119:85; Jer 18:22), as the root shows, the sinking of the pit is the primary thought (Gesen. Thesaur. sv.). It is dug into the earth (Psa 9:16; Psa 119:85). A pit thus made and then covered lightly over, served as a trap by which animals or men might be ensnared (Psa 35:7). It thus became a type of sorrow and confusion, from which a man could not extricate himself, of the great doom which comes to all men, of the dreariness of death (Job 33:18; Job 33:24; Job 33:28; Job 33:30). To go down to the pit is to die without hope. It is the penalty of evildoers, that from which the righteous are delivered by the hand of God. SEE TRAP.
3. Sheol, , in Num 16:30; Num 16:33; Job 17:16. Here the word is one which is used only of the hollow, shadowy world, the dwelling of the dead, and as such it has been treated of tinder HELL.
4. Other Hebrew words rendered pit in the A. V. are the following: , geb, something cut out, hence a cistern in the rock (Jer 14:3); and the cognate , gebe (Isa 30:14; Jer 14:3); , gumdts, something dug (only Ecc 10:8); and , pachath, an excavation (2Sa 17:9; 2Sa 18:17; Isa 24:17-18; Jer 48:43-44; hole, Jer 48:28; snare, 1 Samuel 3:47). The term mahamoroth, , rendered deep pits (Psa 140:10), properly signifies streams, whirlpools, abysses of water. The rabbins, Symmachus, and Jerome understood pits of water.
5. The Greek terms are the following: in Rev 9:1-2, and elsewhere, the bottomless pit is the translation of . The A. V. has rightly taken here as the equivalent of bor rather than beer. The pit of the abyss is as a dungeon. It is opened with a key (Rev 9:1; Rev 20:1). Satan is cast into it, as a prisoner (Rev 20:2). In Mat 12:11, pit is the rendering of , a deep hole or ditch (as rendered in Mat 15:14; Luk 6:39). SEE CISTERN.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Pit
a hole in the ground (Ex. 21:33, 34), a cistern for water (Gen. 37:24; Jer. 14:3), a vault (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 unSee n place of woe (Rev. 20:1, 3). The slime-pits in the vale of Siddim were wells which yielded asphalt (Gen. 14:10).
Fuente: Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Pit
(1) She’ol, “Hades”; the covered, unseen world. (See HELL.)
(2) Shachath, “sunk and lightly covered [pit]” to entrap animals (Psa 9:16; Psa 35:7); typifying “hopeless doom” (Job 33:18; Job 33:24; Job 33:28; Job 33:30).
(3) Bor, “a pit or cistern once full of water, now empty”, with miry clay beneath (Psa 40:2; Zec 9:11); used as dungeon wherein the captive has no water or food; so Jeremiah (Jer 38:6; Jer 38:9), 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; Eze 31:16; Eze 32:18; Eze 32:24). (See ABYSS on the “bottomless pit”: Rev 9:1-2; Rev 20:1-2.)
Fuente: Fausset’s Bible Dictionary
Pit
PIT (, ).In the Gospels is used only of a place into which animals or men might stumble by accident (Mat 12:11), or in consequence of blindness (Mat 15:14, Luk 6:39, Authorized Version ditch, but Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 pit). This might mean any opening or hollow dug in the ground. In Luk 14:5 || Mat 12:11, however, is used, so that here we should, perhaps, understand pit as an empty cistern, or artificial well. These are seldom covered in the East or guarded in any way. In the neighbourhood of towns and villages, especially those that have fallen on decay, they are often the cause of serious accidents to unwary pedestrians. In the Apocalypse appears as the bottomless abode of the beast and his unholy hosts (Rev 9:1; Rev 17:8 etc.).
W. Ewing.
Fuente: A Dictionary Of Christ And The Gospels
Pit
PIT.Of the dozen Heb. words, besides two Gr. words in NT, rendered pit in EV [Note: English Version.] , the following are the most important.
1. The term br is responsible for nearly half of all the OT occurrences. It is the usual word for the cistern with which almost every house in the towns was supplied (see Cistern). Disused cisterns in town and country are the pits mentioned in Gen 37:20 ff. (that into which Joseph was cast [cf. art. Prison]), 1Sa 13:6 (RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] cisterns etc.). In some passages, indeed, the context shows that cistern, not pit, is the proper rendering, as in Lev 11:36, Exo 21:33 f. with reference to an uncovered and unprotected cistern; cf. Luk 14:5, RV [Note: Revised Version.] well for AV [Note: Authorized Version.] pit. The systematic exploration of Palestine has brought to light many series of underground caves which were used at various periods as dwelling-places (cf. 1Sa 13:6); hence by a natural figure, pit became a synonym of Sheol, the under world (Isa 14:15, Psa 28:1, Pro 1:12, and oft.; cf. Rev 9:1 ff. and Sheol).
2. A second word rendered pit (shachath) seems to have denoted originally a pit in which, after concealing the mouth by a covering of twigs and earth, hunters trapped their game (Eze 19:4; Eze 19:8). Like the preceding, it is frequently used in a figurative sense of the under world; so five times in Job 33:1-33 (RV [Note: Revised Version.] ).
3. A hunters pit, denoted by pachath, also supplied the figure of Isa 24:17 f. and its parallels Jer 48:43 f. and Lam 3:47 RV [Note: Revised Version.] note the association with snare. Such a pit served as a place of concealment (2Sa 17:9) and of burial (2Sa 18:17).
4. In Mar 12:1 RV [Note: Revised Version.] rightly recognizes a pit for the winepress, where the reference is to what the Mishna calls a cement-vat, i.e. a pit dug in the soil for a wine-vat (cf. Mat 25:18, where the same expression digged is used), as contrasted with the usual rock-hewn vats (see Wine and Strong Drink, 2).
A. R. S. Kennedy.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Pit
The word translates different Hebrew words of which the most important are: (1) , bor, pit or cistern, made by digging, (Gen 37:20); hence, dungeon (Jer 38:6, margin pit); (2) , be’er, pit or well made by digging (Gen 21:25); (3) , she’ol, generally rendered hell in the King James Version (see HELL); (4) , shahath, a pit in the ground to catch wild animals. (1), (2) and (4) above are used metaphorically of the pit of the grave or of sheol (Psa 28:1; Psa 30:3; Job 33:24). the King James Version sometimes incorrectly renders (4) by corruption. (5) , pahath, pit, literally (2Sa 17:9), and figuratively (Jer 48:43). In the New Testament pit renders , bothunos (Mat 15:14), which means any kind of hole in the ground. In the corresponding passage Lk (Luk 14:5 the King James Version) has , phrear, well, the same as (2) above. For bottomless pit (Rev 9:1, the King James Version, etc.). See ABYSS.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Pit
There are several Hebrew words translated ‘pit.’ The principal are:
1. sheol , ‘the grave, hades, hell.’ Num 16:30; Num 16:33; Job 17:16.
2. shachath, ‘a pit, a pitfall to entrap animals,’ place of doom and corruption. Job 33:18; Job 33:24; Job 33:28; Job 33:30; Psa 9:15; Psa 30:9; Psa 35:7; Eze 28:8; etc.
3. bor, beer, ‘pit or well dug for water,’ but which could be used for a dungeon. Gen 37:20-29; Psa 28:1; Psa 40:2; Psa 88:4; Psa 88:6; Eze 26:20; Zec 9:11; etc. See BOTTOMLESS PIT.
Fuente: Concise Bible Dictionary
Pit
Benaiah slays a lion in
2Sa 23:20
Figurative:
– General references
Psa 7:15-16; Psa 40:2; Psa 57:6; Psa 69:15; Psa 119:85; Pro 23:27; Pro 26:27; Pro 28:10; Ecc 10:8; Jer 48:44
– Of the bottomless pit
Rev 9:1-2; Rev 9:11; Rev 11:7; Rev 17:8; Rev 20:1; Rev 20:3
Fuente: Nave’s Topical Bible
Pit
Pit. This term is used to render several Hebrew words. It denotes a cistern or reservoir. It was into such a dry cistern that Joseph was cast. In old decayed cisterns the water leaks out or becomes slimy, and such a pit becomes the image of dreariness and misery. Jer 2:13; Psa 40:2; Zec 9:11.
Fuente: People’s Dictionary of the Bible
Pit
Pit. See Hell.
Fuente: Smith’s Bible Dictionary
Pit
“a well, dug for water” (distinct from pege, “a fountain”), denotes “a pit” in Rev 9:1-2, RV, “the pit (of the abyss),” “the pit,” i.e., the shaft leading down to the abyss, AV, “(bottomless) pit;” in Luk 14:6, RV, “well” (AV, “pit”); in Joh 4:11-12, “well.” See WELL.
is rendered “pit” in Mat 12:11, see DITCH.
see BOTTOMLESS, B.
denotes “a vessel or trough beneath a winepress,” to receive the juice, Mar 12:1, RV, “a pit for the winepress” (AV, “a place for … the wine-fat”).
Note: For “pits,” 2Pe 2:4, RV, see CHAIN Note (1).
Fuente: Vine’s Dictionary of New Testament Words
Pit
Num 16:33 (a) The original word is sheol, which in the original Hebrew means hell, or the place of departed spirits. These men and their families and their possessions all went down into hell without dying. They are in hell today in their bodies. GOD did a new thing. He never did it before, and has never done it since.
Psa 9:15 (b) The word refers to any trap or device whereby GOD’s child is overtaken by the enemy and made captive. (See also Psa 35:7; Psa 119:85; Pro 28:10).
Psa 40:2 (b) Any deep trouble may be called a pit. It is so easy to fall in, and so hard to get out. It is always a very unpleasant experience.
Psa 88:6 (b) Since this was written by the sons of Korah, whose father went down to hell alive, therefore, it may be that these sons are indicating that they too should have been punished by GOD, but instead were saved by His grace. (See Num 26:11).
Eze 19:4 (b) Probably this refers to the battle plan of the enemy.