Jeremiah 41:9

Now the pit, &c.— בור bor, signifies a basin, cistern, or reservoir; a large pit for receiving rain water, which Asa, who built and fortified Mizpah at the time he was at war with Baasha king of Israel (1 Kings 15:22.) caused to be made in the midst of the city, in order that the people might not be in want of so necessary an article in case of a siege. Reservoirs of this kind were much in use in Palestine, as Jerome tells us in his commentary upon Amos 4:7. And Josephus testifies the advantage of them to the besieged, when he tells us, that when Masada was reduced to the greatest distress for want of water, it was relieved by a fall of rain in the night, which filled all the reservoirs. Ant. lib. 14: cap. 14 edit. Hudson. Each private family seems also to have had one of these pits or reservoirs for its own use: "Drink ye every one the waters of his own cistern;" בורו boro, "his pit," or "reservoir," says Rabshakeh to the people of Jerusalem, Isaiah 36:16.