Hebrew word · H7816
שְׁחוּת
bishchuto
pit
A pit. This form occurs only here. It is related to shuchah, 'pit' (Proverbs 22:14; 23:27, used of the adulteress as a 'deep pit'), and to shachat, 'pit, grave'. All come from the idea of sinking down. The image is a hunting pit: a hole covered over to catch animals.
Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
pit
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 Proverbs 28:10
- Range of meaning
A pit. This form occurs only here. It is related to shuchah, 'pit' (Proverbs 22:14; 23:27, used of the adulteress as a 'deep pit'), and to shachat, 'pit, grave'. All come from the idea of sinking down. The image is a hunting pit: a hole covered over to catch animals.
- Against the English
'Pit' (KJV, BSB, NASB) keeps the image. 'Trap' (WEB, and some modern versions) gives the function and loses the picture of digging and falling.
- Used elsewhere in the period
The 'digger falls into his own pit' saying is common in the Bible: Proverbs 26:27; Psalm 7:15; 9:15; 35:7–8; 57:6; Ecclesiastes 10:8. The Septuagint renders the word diaphthora, 'destruction/corruption', apparently reading it alongside shachat.
Where it appears
Proverbs · 1
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Proverbs 28:10 בִּשְׁחוּת֥וֹ in own pit his
He who leads the upright along the path of evil will fall into his own pit, but the blameless will inherit what is good.
Here: 'Into his pit.' This form appears only here in the Bible. It is related to other Hebrew words for a pit or trap. The 'his' marks it as the misleader's own pit, whether one he dug for others or the pit his own road ends in.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.