bor · pit, cistern

What it means

bor (בּוֹר) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “pit, cistern”.

Pit or cistern dug to keep rainwater; when empty, it served as a prison; also the grave.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. A hole dug to hold water.
2. An empty pit used as a prison.
3. The place where the dead go down; the grave.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Pit, cistern: a hole dug in the rock to collect rainwater. Empty, it served as a prison; and in poetry it is an image of death, the place one goes down to.

• Cisterns for water Deuteronomy 6:11Proverbs 5:15
• Thrown into a cistern without water Genesis 37:24Jeremiah 38:6
• The pit as a prison Genesis 40:15Genesis 41:14
• “Those who go down to the pit”: death Psalms 28:1Psalms 40:2
• Responsibility for an open pit Exodus 21:33

Historical and cultural background

Joseph was thrown into a cistern that “was empty; there was no water in it” (Genesis 37:24). Jeremiah was let down with ropes into the cistern of Malchijah, where “there was no water, but only mud” (Jeremiah 38:6).

How we translate it

“Pit” 29 times and “cistern” 26: “cistern” when it is the water tank or the place where Joseph and Jeremiah were thrown; “pit” in the law, in the poetry of death and for Joseph's prison in Egypt (“out of the pit”, Genesis 41:14); “well” 5; “quarry” in Isaiah 51:1.

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• pit ×29
• cistern ×26
• cisterns ×5
• well ×5
• quarry ×1
• was in the dungeon ×1

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Genesis×9
• Exodus×4
• Leviticus×1
• Deuteronomy×1
• 1 Samuel×2
• 2 Samuel×2
• 2 Kings×2
• 1 Chronicles×3
• 2 Chronicles×1
• Nehemiah×1
• Psalms×7
• Proverbs×3
• Ecclesiastes×1
• Isaiah×6
• Jeremiah×11
• Lamentations×2
• Ezekiel×10
• Zechariah×1

• Genesis 37:20

  Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the cisterns, and we will say, ‘A fierce animal devoured him.’ Then we will see what will become of his dreams.”

• Genesis 37:22

  Reuben said to them, “Do not shed blood; throw him into this cistern that is in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him,” so that he might deliver him from their hands to bring him back to his father.

• Genesis 37:24

  and they took him and threw him into the cistern. The cistern was empty; there was no water in it.

• Genesis 37:28

  Then Midianite men, traders, passed by; and they drew and lifted Joseph out of the cistern and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver; and they brought Joseph to Egypt.

• Genesis 37:29

  Reuben returned to the cistern, and look, Joseph was not in the cistern; and he tore his clothes.

• Genesis 40:15

  For I was stolen away from the land of the Hebrews, and here too I have done nothing that they should put me into the pit.”

• Genesis 41:14

  Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they quickly brought him out of the pit. He shaved, changed his clothes, and came to Pharaoh.

• Exodus 12:29

  At midnight YHWH struck every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and every firstborn of the livestock.

• Exodus 21:33

  When a man opens a pit, or when a man digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,

• Exodus 21:34

  the owner of the pit shall repay; he shall give back silver to its owner, and the dead animal shall be his.

• Leviticus 11:36

  But a spring or a cistern holding a collection of water shall be clean, but whoever touches their carcasses will be unclean.

• Deuteronomy 6:11

  houses full of all good things that you did not fill, cisterns dug that you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant— and you eat and are satisfied,

• 1 Samuel 13:6

  The men of Israel saw that they were in distress, for the people were hard pressed, and the people hid in the caves, in the thickets, in the rocks, in the strongholds, and in the cisterns.

• 1 Samuel 19:22

  He too went to Ramah, and came as far as the great cistern that is in Secu; and he asked and said, “Where are Samuel and David?” And one said, “Look, at Naioth in Ramah.”

• 2 Samuel 3:26

  Joab went out from David and sent messengers after Abner, and they brought him back from the cistern of Sirah; but David did not know.

• 2 Samuel 23:20

  Benaiah son of Jehoiada was the son of a valiant man, great in deeds, from Kabzeel; he struck the two Ariel of Moab; and he went down and struck the lion in the middle of the well on the day of the snow.

• 2 Kings 10:14

  He said, “Seize them alive.” They seized them alive and slaughtered them at the pit of Beth-eked, forty two men, and he did not leave any of them.

• 2 Kings 18:31

  Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria: “Make peace with me and come out to me, and eat, each from his vine and each from his fig tree, and drink, each the water of his cistern,

• 1 Chronicles 11:17

  David longed and said, “Who will give me a drink of water from the well of Bethlehem that is by the gate?”

• 1 Chronicles 11:18

  The three broke through the camp of the Philistines and drew water from the well of Bethlehem that is by the gate, and they carried it and brought it to David; but David was not willing to drink it, and he poured it out as a libation to YHWH.

• 1 Chronicles 11:22

  Benaiah son of Jehoiada, son of a valiant man, great in deeds, from Kabzeel: he struck the two Ariel of Moab; and he went down and struck the lion in the middle of the well on the day of the snow.

• 2 Chronicles 26:10

  He built towers in the wilderness and hewed out many cisterns, for he had much livestock, both in the Shephelah and in the plain, and he had farmers and vinedressers in the mountains and in the fertile fields, for he loved the ground.

• Nehemiah 9:25

  And they captured fortified cities and fertile ground, and they possessed houses full of all good things, cisterns dug, vineyards and olive trees, and fruit trees in abundance; and they ate and were satisfied and grew fat and delighted themselves in your great goodness.

• Psalms 7:15

  He dug a pit and hollowed it out, and fell into the pit that he made.

• Psalms 28:1

  Of David. To you, YHWH, I call; my Rock, do not be deaf to me, lest you be silent to me and I become like those who go down to the pit.

• Psalms 30:3

  YHWH, you brought up from Sheol my soul; you kept me alive from going down to the pit.

• Psalms 40:2

  And he brought me up from the pit of tumult, from the mud of the mire, and set my feet upon a crag; he made firm my steps.

• Psalms 88:4

  I am counted with those who go down to the pit; I have become like a man without strength,

• Psalms 88:6

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

• Psalms 143:7

  Answer me quickly, YHWH; my spirit is consumed; do not hide your face from me, and I would become like those who go down to the pit.

• Proverbs 1:12

  let us swallow them alive like Sheol, and whole, like those who go down to the pit;

• Proverbs 5:15

  Drink water from your own cistern, and flowing water from the midst of your own well.

• Proverbs 28:17

  A man burdened with the blood of a soul will flee to the pit; let no one hold him up.

• Ecclesiastes 12:6

  before the silver cord is snapped, and the golden bowl is crushed, and the jar is shattered at the spring, and the wheel is broken at the cistern;

• Isaiah 14:15

  But to Sheol you will be brought down, to the depths of the pit.

• Isaiah 14:19

  but you have been cast out away from your grave like a loathed shoot, clothed with the slain, those pierced by the sword, who go down to the stones of the pit, like a corpse trampled underfoot.

• Isaiah 24:22

  And they will be gathered in a gathering as prisoners in the pit, and they will be shut up in the prison, and after many days they will be visited.

• Isaiah 36:16

  Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria: “Make peace with me and come out to me, and eat, each from his vine and each from his fig tree, and drink, each the water of his cistern,

• Isaiah 38:18

  For Sheol does not thank you, nor does death praise you; those who go down to the pit do not hope for your truth.

• Isaiah 51:1

  “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, who seek YHWH: look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the hollow of the quarry from which you were dug.

And 27 more times.