Abyss This is the RV [Note: V Revised Version.] rendering of the word ἄ βυσσος which occurs in Luke 8:31, Romans 10:7, Revelation 9:1, Revelation 9:2, Revelation 9:11; Revelation 11:7; Revelation 17:8; Revelation 20:1, Revelation 20:3 . In Lk. and Rom. AV [Note: V Authorized Version.] translates ‘deep’; in Rev., ‘bottomless pit’-no distinction, however, being made between τ ὸ φρέαρ τ ῆ ς ἀ βύσσου in 9:1, 2 (RV [Note: V Revised Version.] ‘the pit of the abyss’) and ἡ ἄ βυσσος simply in the remaining passages (RV [Note: V Revised Version.] ‘the abyss’). ἄ βυσσος (from α intens. and βυσσός, Ion. βυθός, ‘the depth’) occurs in classical Greek as an adj. moaning ‘bottomless,’ but in biblical and ecclesiastical Greek almost invariably as a substantive denoting ‘the bottomless place,’ ‘the abyss.’ The word is found frequently in the LXX [Note: XX Septuagint.], usually as a rendering of the Heb. t e hôm, and primarily denotes the water-deeps which at first covered the earth (Genesis 1:2, Psalms 103 (104):6) and were conceived of as shut up afterwards in subterranean storehouses (32 (33):7). In Job 38:16 f. the abyss in the sense of the depths of the sea is used as a parallel to Hades; and in 41:23 (LXX [Note: XX Septuagint.]) the sea-monster regards the Tartarus of the abyss as his captive. In Psalms 70 (71):20 ‘the abyss’ is applied to the depths of the earth, and is here evidently a figurative equivalent for Sheol, though it is nowhere used in the LXX [Note: XX Septuagint.] to render the Heb, word. In the later Jewish eschatology, where Sheol has passed from its OT meaning of a shadowy under world in which there are no recognized distinctions between the good and the bad, the wicked and the weary (cf. Job 3:17, Ecclesiastes 9:5), and has become a sphere of definite moral retribution, the conception of the abyss has also undergone a moral transformation. The Ethiopian Book of Enoch is especially suggestive for the development of the eschatological conceptions that appear in pre-Christian Judaism; und in the earliest part of that book the fallen angels and demons are represented as cast after the final judgment into a gulf (χάος) of fire (10:13, 14), while in 21:7 the chasm (διακο π ή) filled with fire (cf. τ ὸ φρέαρ in Revelation 9:1, Revelation 9:2) is described as bordered by the abyss. Apparently the abyss was conceived of as the proper home of the devil and his angels, in the centre of which was a lake of fire reserved as the place of their final punishment.
The previous history of the word explains its use in the NT. In Romans 10:7, where he is referring to Deuteronomy 30:13, St. Paul uses it simply as the abode of the dead, Sheol or Hades-a sense equivalent to that of Psalms 70 (71):20. In Luke 8:31 the penal aspect of the abyss comes clearly into view: it is a place of confinement for demons. In Rev. we are in the midst of the visions and images of apocalyptic eschatology. In 9:1, 2 ‘the pit of the abyss’ sends forth a smoke like the smoke of a great furnace. The abyss has an angel of its own whose name is Abaddon (q.v. [Note: .v. quod vide, which see.]) or Apollyon (v. 11). From it ‘the beast’ issues (11:7; 17:8), and into it ‘the old serpent which is the Devil and Satan’ is cast for a thousand years (20:1-3).
Literature.-The Commentaries and Bible Dictionaries; art. [Note: rt. article.] ‘Abyss’ in ERE [Note: RE EncyclopAEdia of Religion and Ethics.] .
J. C. Lambert.