Aramaic word · H1358

גֹּב

guba'

den

'Pit', a hole dug in the ground, like a cistern. It is related to Hebrew gēb/gebe', 'pit, cistern', and Akkadian gubbu, 'cistern, well'.

A Biblical Aramaic word, from the parts of the Old Testament written in Aramaic. Why Aramaic?

Appears 10 times in 8 verses of the Aramaic of the Old Testament. · Updated November 06, 2026

What it means

pit, den (of lions)

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Daniel 6:16

Range of meaning: 'Pit', a hole dug in the ground, like a cistern. It is related to Hebrew gēb/gebe', 'pit, cistern', and Akkadian gubbu, 'cistern, well'.
Against the English: 'Den' (all major English versions) suggests a cave or animal lair entered from the side. The Aramaic word and the details of the chapter point to a pit entered from above.
How it drifted: 'Den of lions' comes from older English Bibles (Coverdale, Geneva, KJV), and the phrase has been fixed by centuries of art and children's Bibles, which often draw a cave.
Used elsewhere in the period: Throughout Daniel 6 (vv. 7, 12, 16, 17, 19, 20, 23, 24). The chapter's details assume a pit: a 'mouth' sealed with a stone (v. 17), Daniel 'lifted up' out of it (v. 23), and the accusers seized by the lions before they 'reached the bottom of the pit' (v. 24).

From the study of Daniel 6:19

Range of meaning: A pit, hole in the ground, or cistern. It is related to Hebrew gēb or gēbe, 'cistern, pool, ditch' (2 Kgs 3:16; Jer 14:3; Isa 30:14). In Daniel 6 it is a pit with a 'mouth' that can be covered with a stone and sealed (6:17), out of which a man is 'lifted up' (6:23), and into which people can be thrown (6:24).
Against the English: Every major English version says 'den' ('lions' den', 'den of lions'). In modern English a den is an animal's lair or cave. The Aramaic pictures a pit dug into the ground and entered from above.
How it drifted: 'Den' entered the English tradition through Tyndale, Coverdale and the KJV. At the time it was a natural word for a beast's lair. Familiar images of a rocky cave have since shaped how most readers picture the scene.
Used elsewhere in the period: The Greek translations use lakkos, 'pit, cistern' (the same word used for Joseph's pit and Jeremiah's cistern). The Latin Vulgate uses lacus, 'pit, tank'. Both ancient translators understood it as a pit.

From the study of Daniel 6:23

Range of meaning: Pit, den. A hollow dug into the ground. In Daniel it is always the lions' den (gōḇ 'aryāwāṯā'). Hebrew gēḇ / gebe' means a pit or cistern.
Against the English: "Den" in English suggests a cave or lair. The Aramaic and the story (a stone over its mouth, 6:17; people thrown down to its bottom, 6:24; Daniel "brought up") point to a pit entered from above.
How it drifted: "Den" is an old and fine rendering, but it shapes the picture toward a cave with a side door, as many illustrations show.
Used elsewhere in the period: Dan 6:7–24 throughout. Assyrian kings kept lions for royal hunts, as the reliefs from Nineveh show. Clear evidence for lion pits used to execute people in the Persian period has not been found, so the image may be the story's own rather than a documented institution.

Where it appears

Daniel · 10

Daniel 6:7 לְגֹ֖ב to [the] den of

All the royal administrators, prefects, satraps, advisers, and governors have agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce a decree that for thirty days anyone who petitions any god or man except you, O king, will be thrown into the den of lions.

Here: 'Into the pit of': a sunken enclosure with an opening at the top, which can be closed with a stone and sealed (6:17). Not a cave in a hillside.
Daniel 6:12 לְג֖וֹב to [the] den of

So they approached the king and asked about his royal decree: “Did you not sign a decree that for thirty days any man who petitions any god or man except you, O king, will be thrown into the den of lions?” The king replied, “According to the law of the Medes and Persians the order stands, and it cannot be repealed.”
Daniel 6:16 לְגֻבָּ֖א to den the

So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the den of lions. The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, deliver you!”

Here: 'Into the pit'. The chapter shows it as a hole in the ground: it has a 'mouth' closed with a stone (v. 17), Daniel is 'lifted up' out of it (v. 23), and the accusers are seized before they 'reach the bottom' (v. 24).
Daniel 6:17 גֻּבָּ֑א den the

A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the rings of his nobles, so that nothing concerning Daniel could be changed.
Daniel 6:19 לְגֻבָּ֥א to den the

At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the den of lions.

Here: 'To the pit'. In 6:17 a stone was laid over its mouth and sealed, and in 6:23 Daniel is 'taken up' out of it. So the narrator pictures a pit or cistern-like hole entered from above, not a cave with a side entrance.
Daniel 6:20 לְגֻבָּ֔א to den the

When he reached the den, he cried out in a voice of anguish, “O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?”

Here: A gov is a pit or sunken enclosure, related to the Hebrew word for a cistern. It was sealed from above with a stone (v.17), so the king is calling down into a closed hole, not looking into a cage.
Daniel 6:23 גֻּבָּ֑א גֻּבָּ֗א den the

The king was overjoyed and gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den, and when Daniel was lifted out of the den, no wounds whatsoever were found on him, because he had trusted in his God.

Here: "The pit." A sunken enclosure with a mouth that could be sealed with a stone (6:17). In 6:24 the accusers have not reached "the bottom of the pit" before the lions take them.
Daniel 6:24 וּלְגֹ֤ב גֻּבָּ֗א and to [the] den of, den the

At the command of the king, the men who had falsely accused Daniel were brought and thrown into the den of lions—they and their children and wives. And before they had reached the bottom of the den, the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones.

Here: A pit or underground enclosure. It had a mouth that could be sealed with a stone (v. 17) and a 'bottom' (this verse), so 'den' in the sense of a cave or lair is somewhat misleading.

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