(1) (בּאר, be‘ēr; compare Arabic bi'r, “well” or “cistern”; usually artificial: “And Isaac’s servants digged (dug) in the valley, and found there a well of springing (margin “living”) water” (Genesis 26:19); some times covered: “Jacob ... rolled the stone from the well’s mouth” (Genesis 29:10). Be‘ēr may also be a pit: “The vale of Siddim was full of slime pits” (Genesis 14:10); “the pit of destruction” (Psalms 55:23). (2) (בּור, bōr), usually “pit”: “Let us slay him, and cast him into one of the pits” (Genesis 37:20); may be “well”: “drew water out of the well of Beth-lehem” (2 Samuel 23:16).
(3) (πηγή, pēgḗ), usually “running water,” “fount,” or “source”: “Doth the fountain send forth from the same opening sweet water and bitter?” (James 3:11); may be “well”; compare “Jacob’s well” (John 4:6). (4) (φρέαρ, phréar), usually “pit”: “the pit of the abyss” (Revelation 9:1); but “well”; compare “Jacob’s well” (John 4:11-12): “Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a well” (the King James Version “pit”) (Luke 14:5). (5) (κρήνη, krḗnē), “wells” (Sirach/Ecclesiasticus 48:17), Latin, fons, “spring” (2 Esdras 2:32).
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Author: International Std. Bible Encyclopedia
Keywords: Well, Pit, Cistern, Water well, Digging a well
Source: James Orr (editor), The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, 5 volume set.
Page indexed by: inWORD Bible Software.