let us swallow them alive like Sheol, and whole like those descending into the Pit.
Parallel translations
- WEB Let’s swallow them up alive like Sheol, and whole, like those who go down into the pit.
- KJV Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit:
- NKJV Let us swallow them alive like Sheol, And whole, like those who go down to the Pit;
- NASB Let’s swallow them alive like Sheol, Even whole, like those who go down to the pit;
- NLT Let’s swallow them alive, like the grave; let’s swallow them whole, like those who go down to the pit of death.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
They boast of swallowing their victims alive, as the grave swallows the dead. It matters because it shows the ruthless, dehumanizing appetite of sin.
Overview
The imagery of Sheol and the pit pictures total, consuming destruction; the wicked aspire to devour others completely. Their casual reference to swallowing the innocent reveals hearts hardened to the value of human life. Such violence stands utterly opposed to God, the giver and defender of life.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Ps 28:1Of David. To You, O LORD, I call; be not deaf to me, O my Rock. For if You remain silent, I will be like those descending to the Pit.
- Ps 124:3when their anger flared against us, then they would have swallowed us alive,
- Rom 3:13“Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The venom of vipers is on their lips.”
- Lam 2:16All your enemies open their mouths against you. They hiss and gnash their teeth, saying, “We have swallowed her up. This is the day for which we have waited. We have lived to see it!”
- Ps 56:1–2For the choirmaster. To the tune of “A Dove on Distant Oaks.” A Miktam of David, when the Philistines seized him in Gath. Be merciful to me, O God, for men are hounding me; all day they press their attack.
- Num 26:10And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them along with Korah, whose followers died when the fire consumed 250 men. They serve as a warning sign.
- Ps 57:3He reaches down from heaven and saves me; He rebukes those who trample me. Selah God sends forth His loving devotion and His truth.
- Jer 51:34“Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured me; he has crushed me. He has set me aside like an empty vessel; he has swallowed me like a monster; he filled his belly with my delicacies and vomited me out.
- Ps 143:7Answer me quickly, O LORD; my spirit fails. Do not hide Your face from me, or I will be like those who descend to the Pit.
- Ps 35:25Let them not say in their hearts, “Aha, just what we wanted!” Let them not say, “We have swallowed him up!”
- Num 16:30–33But if the LORD brings about something unprecedented, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them and all that belongs to them so that they go down alive into Sheol, then you will know that these men have treated the LORD with contempt.”
- Mic 3:2–3You hate good and love evil. You tear the skin from my people and strip the flesh from their bones.
- Ps 5:9For not a word they speak can be trusted; destruction lies within them. Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.
- Lam 2:5The Lord is like an enemy; He has swallowed up Israel. He has swallowed up all her palaces and destroyed her strongholds. He has multiplied mourning and lamentation for the Daughter of Judah.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Wisdom personified, with God before creation and the agent of all things, anticipates Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom' — the wisdom of God made flesh.
How Proverbs 1:12 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.