Word study
Pit
7 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: pit, pits. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.
At a glance
How often each original word is translated “Pit” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side Compare the Greek words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- בּוֹר bôrpit, cistern, welltranslated this way 35 times of its 62 uses · Strong’s H953Noun · Translated: Pit 34, cistern 14, well 6, dungeon 2Full study and all 59 verses →
Genesis 37:20 “Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. We can say that a vicious animal has devoured him. Then we shall see what becomes of his dreams!”
Exodus 21:33 If a man opens or digs a pit and fails to cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,
- שַׁחַת shachathpittranslated this way 18 times of its 23 uses · Strong’s H7845Noun · Translated: pit 18, decay 2, corruption 1, destruction 1Full study and all 23 verses →
Job 9:31 then You would plunge me into the pit, and even my own clothes would despise me.
Psalm 7:15 He has dug a hole and hollowed it out; he has fallen into a pit of his own making.
- פַּחַת pachathpittranslated this way 7 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s H6354Noun · Translated: pit 7, cave 2, pitfall 1Full study and all 8 verses →
2 Samuel 18:17 They took Absalom, cast him into a large pit in the forest, and piled a huge mound of stones over him. Meanwhile, all the Israelites fled, each to his home.
Isaiah 24:17 Terror and pit and snare await you, O dweller of the earth.
- שׁוּחָה shûchâhpittranslated this way 4 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H7745Noun · Translated: pit 3, pits 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Proverbs 22:14 The mouth of an adulteress is a deep pit; he who is under the wrath of the LORD will fall into it.
Jeremiah 2:6 They did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and pits, a land of drought and darkness, a land where no one travels and no one lives?’
- בְּאֵר beêrwell, pittranslated this way 3 times of its 35 uses · Strong’s H875Noun · Translated: well 30, wells 2, Pit 2, pits 1Full study and all 32 verses →
Genesis 14:10 Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits, and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some men fell into the pits, but the survivors fled to the hill country.
Psalm 55:23 But You, O God, will bring them down to the Pit of destruction; men of bloodshed and deceit will not live out half their days. But I will trust in You.
- שִׁיחָה shîchâhid.translated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H7882Noun · Translated: pit 2, pits 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Psalm 57:6 They spread a net for my feet; my soul was despondent. They dug a pit before me, but they themselves have fallen into it! Selah
Jeremiah 18:22 Let a cry be heard from their houses when You suddenly bring raiders against them, for they have dug a pit to capture me and have hidden snares for my feet.
- שְׁחִית shechîthpit-falltranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H7825Noun · Translated: Pit 1, pits 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Psalm 107:20 He sent forth His word and healed them; He rescued them from the Pit.
Lamentations 4:20 The LORD’s anointed, the breath of our life, was captured in their pits. We had said of him, “Under his shadow we will live among the nations.”
Greek words (New Testament)
- φρέαρ phréara pit, welltranslated this way 4 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s G5421Noun · Translated: pit 4, well 2Full study and all 5 verses →
Luke 14:5 And He asked them, “Which of you whose son or ox falls into a pit on the Sabbath day will not immediately pull him out?”
Revelation 9:1 Then the fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to earth, and it was given the key to the pit of the Abyss.
- βόθυνος bóthynosa pit, ditchtranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G999Noun · Translated: pit 3Full study and all 3 verses →
Matthew 12:11 He replied, “If one of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out?
Luke 6:39 Jesus also told them a parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit?
How to study a word well
- Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
- Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
- Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
- Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
- See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
- Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
- Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.
What the Bible says about Pit: passages by topic →
Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Full entry: Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906, public domain), in the digital edition Brown-Driver-Briggs Enhanced by unfoldingWord (Joel Ruark, J. de Joode), based on data by Eliran Wong and Stephen Ku; its additions are used under CC BY 4.0. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project, CC BY 4.0. Hebrew-to-English verse numbering: original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb, CC BY 4.0. We reformatted the data, linked the references to this site’s Bible text and left out words in other scripts that the source holds only as images. These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.