The word is ἄβυσσος, lit . ’without a bottom,’ an abyss. From the passages in the Revelation we learn that the abyss is where the Satanic powers are shut up, not where they will be punished, which is in the lake of fire. The demons cast out by the Lord in [Luk 8:31] besought Him that He would not send them into the abyss. In [Rom 10:7] it is put in contrast to the heavens. In [Rev 9:1-11], to a star fallen from heaven the key of the abyss is given, and on its being opened great moral darkness rises, out of which destructive agents proceed: Abaddon (Apollyon) ’the destroyer’ is their king. The future Roman empire is represented as a beast rising out of (receiving in its last head power from) the abyss. [Rev 11:7]; [Rev 17:8]. Satan will be confined in the abyss during the thousand years of the millennium. [Rev 20:1]; [Rev 20:3]. (The above are all the passages where the Greek word occurs.)
