4. κὮ} (from x33 ? ‘to gather together’) a cistern, as in Is 30“ RV; but in Ezk 474 probably a marsh
or pool. δ, ypu (an Aram. loan-word) occurs only in Ec 105 *He that ἀΕδεῖα a pit shall fall into it’; ef. the
parallel in Pr 26”, where the word used is nny; root yo) Syr. and Aram. =‘ to dig.’
6. nop (from an unused root nnp ‘ to excavate’), probably an excavation, or deep cleft with gloomy recesses in which one might hide (2 8 17°). It is rendered ‘hole’ in Jer 48", and doubtless because of its forbidding aspect it is associated with those things which inspire terror (Is 247, Jer 48%, La 8 RV, etc.). Into some such opening the body of Absalom was thrown (2 § 181”),
7. Sx?. In each of the three cases where AV renders ‘pit’(Nu 16% *, Job 17"*) ‘Sheol’ is pre- ferable (see art. HADES),
8. 9. 10. From the root me ‘to sink or subside’:— (a) apw, in Jer 2° of the pits which enhanced the
rils of the desert march; fig. in Pr 22 2377 AV and RV ‘ditch’), Jer 18%, (δ) nog, the pit in which snares are set to take wild beasts, and so metaph. the cunning designs of a man’s foes to
compass his undoing (Ps 7% (ditch) 916 357 9413, Pr 267, Ezk 19-5). It is also used as equivalent te the grave, which is destined to entrap all living (Job 33%, Ps 309 55%). ‘Pit’ (RVm) should take the piace of ‘corruption’ in Job 174, Ps 16" 49°, and Jon 2° (RVm) ; of ‘ destruction’ Ps 103%, and of ‘grave’ Job 333, In Job 951 it seems to indicate a receptacle of filth, while in Is 51 it clearly denotes a dungeon. (6) an? occurs thrice (Ps 578 119, Jer 18%), fig. in each case, of the subtle and malevolent schemes of enemies.
11. 12. From the root πηφ ‘to bow down’:—(a) mny only once, fig. (Pr 28:0), (2) nny (’s 107, La 4”), In the former case, instead of ‘ destructions,’ we may read with Delitzsch (in Joc.) ‘ pits,’ refer- ring to the sufferings into which they had sunk. In the latter it again refers to the successful designs of the enemy.
In the NT the terms used are—4, βόθυνος (= βόθρος, any hole or hollow in the ground, as, 6.4.» the trench in which a tree is planted), Mt 124, is Mt 15¢, Lk 6, AV renders ‘ditch’; RV uniformly
pit.
2. φρέαρ, an artificial well, cistern, reservoir, or, generally, pit. In Lk 145 (RV), where the empty well is doubtless intended, and Jn 411-13 jt is rendered ‘well.’ In Rev 9" it is used figuratively of the pit of the abyss. Empty wells are often left uncovered and unguarded near the villages, and especially around deserted sites in Palestine, and form a serious danger to the traveller, par- ticularly in the dark. See, further, the following article. W. Ewina.
PIT (metaphorical).—As might be expected, the metaphorical use of this word is most frequent in the poetical and prophetical books of the Bible, and in passages where an elevated style is natural. It stands in the EV (see the preceding article) for a number of Heb. words, and the utter lack of con- sistency in the translation is well exemplified in Pr 22, in the 14th verse of which ‘pit’ is the rendering of amv, whilst in 237 -x3 is represented by ‘pit,’ and aqw by ‘ditch.’ The shades of mean- ing may be classified as follows :—
1. In a solitary instance, Is 51’, ‘the hole of the pit (3) refers to Sarah, the ancestress of the nation, the quarry from which it was digged.
2. Very frequently the pit is a stratagem or device by which an enemy is injured. Ezk 19*8 justifies the conclusion that the figure was sug- gested by the pits in which wild animals are captured. The Heb. words used in this sense are—n3, 15, nop, ame, nov, mny, ayny, apy. See Ps 915 357 119%, Pr 2214 2377 9810. 17 ete,
3. From this sense the transition is easy to that of the miserable condition or the ruin into which one falls—the roaring τὰν (ix 3) of Ps 405, the watery pits (ni5g9D) of Ps 140, the βόθρος of Sir 1218, the βόθρος ᾷδου of Sir 9110,
4, A wretched underground dungeon thoroughly deserves this name. It is found at Is 24” (12), Zec 9" (2), Wis 10% (λάκκος, here used, is the LXX rendering of 1\2, Joseph’s dungeon, Gn 41"),
5. The grave is often entitled ‘the pit.’ Here, again, a variety of Heb. words are employed—nrx3, now wz, M3, Sx’, nov, Sa now. Such passages as Ezk 32 call up the picture of a huge columbarium with graves in the sides, But here and elsewhere it is not easy to distinguish between this significa- tion and the one mentioned under No. 6.
6. Hades, the realm of shades, situated beneath the earth, and tenanted by thin, unsubstantial ghosts, bears this name. At Is 14" the pit (13) is obviously the same as ‘hell,’ t.¢. Hades (>\xy),
7. In the Apocalypse the abode of the devil and his angels is conceived of as a vast underground abyss, communicating with the surface of the earth
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by a great shaft, which is opened or closed from share by God’s angels sent forth for the purpose. it, φρέαρ, φρέαρ τῆς 3.11 117 178 201-3, and J. TAYLOR.