THE BOTTOMLESS PIT OR THE CHAOTIC DEEP – [AH BISS]‑. Originally, this term represented a deep mass of waters, and was associated with the water which God created with the earth. Darkness is said to have been on the face of the deep or abyss (Genesis 1:2).
The term is used in several other ways in the Bible. It describes the prison of disobedient spirits, or the world of the dead (Luke 8:31; Romans 10:7). Terms like “the pit” and “bottomless pit” represent the abode of all the wicked dead. (from Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Copyright (c)1986, Thomas Nelson Publishers)
The Abyss
(a‑bis’), (he abussos): In classical Greek the word is always an adjective, and is used (1) literally, “very deep,” “bottomless”; (2) figuratively, “unfathomable,” “boundless.” “Abyss” does not occur in the King James Version but the Revised Version (British and American) so transliterates abussos in each case.
The King James Version renders the Greek by “the deep” in two passages (Luke 8:31; Romans 10:7). In Rev the King James Version renders by “the bottomless pit” (Rev 9:1‑2,11; 11:7; 17:8; 20:1,3).
In the Septuagint abussos is the rendering of the Hebrew word tehom. According to primitive Semitic cosmogony the earth was supposed to rest on a vast body of water which was the source of all springs of water and rivers (Genesis 1:2; Deuteronomy 8:7; Ps 24:2; 136:6). This subterranean ocean is sometimes described as “the water under the earth” (Ex 20:4; Deuteronomy 5:8).