Greek word · G5421

φρέαρ

phrear

well/abyss

A dug well or cistern, and more generally a pit or shaft. Ancient wells usually had a stone covering that could be rolled or sealed.

Appears 7 times in 5 verses of the Greek New Testament. · Updated October 31, 2026

What it means

φρέαρ, -ατος, τό

[in LXX chiefly for בְּאֵר ;]

a well: Luke 14:5, Song of Songs 4:11-12; φ. τῆς ἀβύσσου, Revelation 9:1-2.†

(AS)

From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

Range of meaning: A dug well or cistern, and more generally a pit or shaft. Ancient wells usually had a stone covering that could be rolled or sealed.
Against the English: KJV 'bottomless pit' merges the shaft and the abyss into one phrase. BSB and WEB 'pit of the abyss', and NIV and ESV 'shaft', keep the two-part picture: a shaft (opening) leading down into the deep.
How it drifted: Older English collapsed 'shaft of the abyss' into the single idea 'bottomless pit'.
Used elsewhere in the period: Genesis 29:2–3 (Greek OT: a well with a great stone over its mouth); John 4:11–12 (Jacob's well, phrear). Psalm 69:15 (68:16 in the Greek OT): 'let not the pit (phrear) shut its mouth over me', the pit as a picture of death.

Range of meaning: A dug well, cistern or shaft; by extension a pit or abyss (Rev 9:1–2, “the shaft of the abyss”). It differs from pēgē, a spring or fountain where water comes up by itself.
Against the English: “Well” is accurate. What English hides is that John switches words: the narrator calls the site a pēgē, a spring (4:6), and the woman calls it a phrear, a shaft (4:11–12). Jesus then promises a pēgē welling up inside the person (4:14).
Used elsewhere in the period: Septuagint uses phrear for the patriarchs' wells (Gen 21:19, 25, 30; 26:15–22; 29:2–10, Jacob at the well in Haran). Josephus uses it for wells and cisterns.

Range of meaning: A dug well or shaft, or a pit or cistern. In Revelation 9:1–2 it is used for the "shaft of the abyss". It differs from πηγή (pēgē), a spring or source of naturally flowing water.
Against the English: "Well" is accurate. English readers usually miss that John uses two different words: the narrator calls it Jacob's pēgē ("spring", 4:6 twice), while the woman calls it a phrear ("well, shaft", 4:11–12).
Used elsewhere in the period: In the Greek Old Testament (the Septuagint) φρέαρ translates Hebrew bəʾēr, "well", including the patriarchal wells (Genesis 21:25–31; 26:15–33; 29:2–10, Jacob at the well in Haran). The site traditionally called Jacob's Well near ancient Shechem (modern Nablus) is a deep shaft fed by groundwater, so it is both a well and a spring. That fits John's two words.

Luke · 1

Luke 14:5 φρέαρ a pit

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?”

John · 2

John 4:11 φρέαρ well

“Sir,” the woman replied, “You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where then will You get this living water?

Here: A dug shaft or well, as opposed to an open spring. In 4:6 the narrator called the same place a pēgē (spring, fountain). Both words fit: it was a deep shaft fed by groundwater.
John 4:12 φρέαρ, well,

Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock?”

Here: A dug well or shaft. The woman uses this word (4:11–12), while the narrator calls it a "spring" (pēgē) in 4:6, because it is a deep shaft reaching groundwater.

Revelation · 4

Revelation 9:1 φρέατος pit

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.

Here: Ordinarily a dug well or cistern, which could be covered and sealed. Here it is the vertical shaft or mouth leading down into the abyss. It can be locked, opened, and it lets smoke out (9:2).
Revelation 9:2 φρέαρ φρέατος φρέατος. pit, pit.

The star opened the pit of the Abyss, and smoke rose out of it like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the pit.

Here: Ordinarily a dug well or cistern shaft. Here it is the narrow mouth and passage leading down into the abyss, pictured with a covered and locked opening.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.