Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit:
Parallel translations
- WEB Let’s swallow them up alive like Sheol, and whole, like those who go down into the pit.
- BSB let us swallow them alive like Sheol, and whole like those descending into the Pit.
- ESV like Sheol let us swallow them alive, and whole, like those who go down to 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 quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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 28:1Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.
- Ps 124:3Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us:
- Rom 3:13Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:
- Lam 2:16All thine enemies have opened their mouth against thee: they hiss and gnash the teeth: they say, We have swallowed her up: certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found, we have seen it.
- Ps 56:1–2Be merciful unto me, O God: for man would swallow me up; he fighting daily oppresseth me.
- Num 26:10And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up together with Korah, when that company died, what time the fire devoured two hundred and fifty men: and they became a sign.
- Ps 57:3He shall send from heaven, and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. Selah. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth.
- Jer 51:34Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me, he hath crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel, he hath swallowed me up like a dragon, he hath filled his belly with my delicates, he hath cast me out.
- Ps 143:7Hear me speedily, O LORD: my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit.
- Ps 35:25Let them not say in their hearts, Ah, so would we have it: let them not say, We have swallowed him up.
- Num 16:30–33But if the LORD make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down quick into the pit; then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the LORD.
- Mic 3:2–3Who hate the good, and love the evil; who pluck off their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones;
- Ps 5:9For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is very wickedness; their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter with their tongue.
- Lam 2:5The LORD was as an enemy: he hath swallowed up Israel, he hath swallowed up all her palaces: he hath destroyed his strong holds, and hath increased in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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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.