The Hebrew verb karah (כָּרָה) means primarily to dig — to excavate a pit, well, or grave. It also carries the extended sense of preparing or buying (possibly related to digging to find). The verb appears in legal, narrative, and poetic contexts — digging wells of water, pits for enemies, and graves for the dead.
Karah is used in some of Scripture's most ironic passages — wicked people dig pits for the righteous and fall into them themselves (Psalm 7:15; 57:6; Proverbs 26:27). This principle of retributive justice — that the trapper is trapped by his own scheme — runs throughout Wisdom literature and is fulfilled ultimately in Satan's defeat. The digging of wells (Genesis 26:15–22) represents covenant blessing and possession of the land. Psalm 22:16 uses the related word in its messianic passion narrative: 'they pierce my hands and my feet.'