Formlessness
תֹּ֫הוּStrong’s H8414tohu (to-hu)
Appears in 19 verses of the Old Testament
In short
Tohu is the Hebrew word usually translated “emptiness”, “formlessness” and “wasteland”. It appears in 19 verses of the Old Testament.
“And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.”
Meaning
- Formlessness, confusion, unreality, emptinessformlessness (of primeval earth) · that which is empty or unreal (of idols) (fig) · wasteland, wilderness (of solitary places) · place of chaos · vanity
How it's translated
- emptiness 5
- formlessness 4
- in a wasteland 2
- and emptiness 2
- and in a wasteland of 1
- in the wasteland 1
- with emptiness 1
- like nothingness 1
Word-by-word English from the STEPBible tagged text.
Where it's used most
- Isaiah 11
- Job 3
- Genesis 1
- Deuteronomy 1
- 1 Samuel 1
- Psalms 1
7 books in all.
Explore in Scripture
- Deuteronomy 32:10He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.
- 1 Samuel 12:21And turn ye not aside: for then should ye go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver; for they are vain.
- Job 6:18The paths of their way are turned aside; they go to nothing, and perish.
- Job 12:24He taketh away the heart of the chief of the people of the earth, and causeth them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way.
- Job 26:7He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.
- Psalms 107:40He poureth contempt upon princes, and causeth them to wander in the wilderness, where there is no way.
Hebrew dictionary
תֹּ֫הוּ tohu · formlessness
1) formlessness, confusion, unreality, emptiness 1a) formlessness (of primeval earth) 1a1) nothingness, empty space 1b) that which is empty or unreal (of idols) (fig) 1c) wasteland, wilderness (of solitary places) 1d) place of chaos 1e) vanity
From STEPBible’s Hebrew lexicon (based on Brown-Driver-Briggs).
Webster's 1828 Dictionary
How the English word “emptiness” was understood when the King James Version was still the common Bible of English readers.
EMP'TINESS, noun
[from empty.]
A state of being empty; a state of containing nothing except air; destitution; absence of matter; as the emptiness of a vessel.
- Void space; vacuity; vacuum.
- Want of solidity or substance; as the emptiness of light and shade.
- Unsatisfactoriness; inability to satisfy desire; as the emptiness of earthly things.
- Vacuity of head; want of intellect or knowledge.
Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828). Verse references are checked against the KJV. Read the full entry.
Verses are from the King James Version. Word meanings come from the original Hebrew, not from any one translation.