For cast him into a pit see verses 20, 22.

Pit was empty, there was no water in it: Revised Standard Version retains the repetitions of the Hebrew. It is possible that the narrator wanted to stress that nothing else had been thrown into the pit and that it was dry. Most modern translations keep the double description. Good News Translation uses only “which was dry.” We may also say, for example, “a dry and empty pit.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .