and they took him and threw him into the pit. Now the pit was empty, without any water in it.

Then some Midianite traders passed by, so they pulled him up and lifted Joseph out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. Thus they brought Joseph into Egypt.

Now Reuben returned to the pit, and behold, Joseph was not in the pit; so he tore his garments.

the owner of the pit shall make restitution; he shall give money to its owner, and the dead animal shall become his.

He said, “Take them alive.” So they took them alive and killed them at the pit of Beth-eked, forty-two men; and he left none of them.

Yet You would plunge me into the pit, And my own clothes would abhor me.

If I call to the pit, ‘You are my father’; To the worm, ‘my mother and my sister’;

He keeps back his soul from the pit, And his life from passing over into Sheol.

“Then his soul draws near to the pit, And his life to those who bring death.

Then let him be gracious to him, and say, ‘Deliver him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom’;

‘He has redeemed my soul from going to the pit, And my life shall see the light.’

To bring back his soul from the pit, That he may be enlightened with the light of life.

The nations have sunk down in the pit which they have made; In the net which they hid, their own foot has been caught.

A Prayer for Help, and Praise for Its Answer.

A Psalm of David.

To You, O Lord, I call; My rock, do not be deaf to me, For if You are silent to me, I will become like those who go down to the pit.

O Lord, You have brought up my soul from Sheol; You have kept me alive, that I would not go down to the pit.

“What profit is there in my blood, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise You? Will it declare Your faithfulness?

He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm.

But You, O God, will bring them down to the pit of destruction; Men of bloodshed and deceit will not live out half their days. But I will trust in You.

May the flood of water not overflow me Nor the deep swallow me up, Nor the pit shut its mouth on me.

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

Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion;

Answer me quickly, O Lord, my spirit fails; Do not hide Your face from me, Or I will become like those who go down to the pit.

Let us swallow them alive like Sheol, Even whole, as those who go down to the pit;

“Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol, To the recesses of the pit.

“But you have been cast out of your tomb Like a rejected branch, Clothed with the slain who are pierced with a sword, Who go down to the stones of the pit Like a trampled corpse.

Then it will be that he who flees the report of disaster will fall into the pit, And he who climbs out of the pit will be caught in the snare; For the windows above are opened, and the foundations of the earth shake.

“Lo, for my own welfare I had great bitterness; It is You who has kept my soul from the pit of nothingness, For You have cast all my sins behind Your back.

“For Sheol cannot thank You, Death cannot praise You; Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness.

“The one who flees from the terror Will fall into the pit, And the one who climbs up out of the pit Will be caught in the snare; For I shall bring upon her, even upon Moab, The year of their punishment,” declares the Lord.

They have silenced me in the pit And have placed a stone on me.

then I will bring you down with those who go down to the pit, to the people of old, and I will make you dwell in the lower parts of the earth, like the ancient waste places, with those who go down to the pit, so that you will not be inhabited; but I will set glory in the land of the living.

‘They will bring you down to the pit, And you will die the death of those who are slain In the heart of the seas.

so that all the trees by the waters may not be exalted in their stature, nor set their top among the clouds, nor their well-watered mighty ones stand erect in their height. For they have all been given over to death, to the earth beneath, among the sons of men, with those who go down to the pit.”

I made the nations quake at the sound of its fall when I made it go down to Sheol with those who go down to the pit; and all the well-watered trees of Eden, the choicest and best of Lebanon, were comforted in the earth beneath.

“Son of man, wail for the hordes of Egypt and bring it down, her and the daughters of the powerful nations, to the nether world, with those who go down to the pit;

whose graves are set in the remotest parts of the pit and her company is round about her grave. All of them are slain, fallen by the sword, who spread terror in the land of the living.

“Elam is there and all her hordes around her grave; all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who went down uncircumcised to the lower parts of the earth, who instilled their terror in the land of the living and bore their disgrace with those who went down to the pit.

They have made a bed for her among the slain with all her hordes. Her graves are around it, they are all uncircumcised, slain by the sword (although their terror was instilled in the land of the living), and they bore their disgrace with those who go down to the pit; they were put in the midst of the slain.

“There also is Edom, its kings and all its princes, who for all their might are laid with those slain by the sword; they will lie with the uncircumcised and with those who go down to the pit.

“There also are the chiefs of the north, all of them, and all the Sidonians, who in spite of the terror resulting from their might, in shame went down with the slain. So they lay down uncircumcised with those slain by the sword and bore their disgrace with those who go down to the pit.

“I descended to the roots of the mountains. The earth with its bars was around me forever, But You have brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God.

He opened the bottomless pit, and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit.