Unearthing Genesis 1:1 | Appendix C
The Sapphire Review Vol. 2 | No. 23 • May 6, 2025
Tohu (תהו) and Bohu (בהו) According to Scripture
Tohu (תהו) Only
*All Occurrences of Tohu (תהו)
*except mentions with Bohu (בהו)
*except untranslated occurrences (1Sa 1:1)
Deuteronomy 32:10
He found him in a desert land, and in the waste (tohu תהו) howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.
Deuteronomy 32:10
waste (tohu תהו) = emptiness (void)
1 Samuel 12:21
And turn ye not aside: for then should ye go after vain things, (tohu תהו) which cannot profit nor deliver; for they are vain. (tohu תהו)
1 Samuel 12:21
vain [things] (tohu תהו) = empty
vain (tohu תהו) = nothing
Job 6:18
The paths of their way are turned aside; they go to nothing, (tohu תהו) and perish.
Job 6:18
nothing (tohu תהו)
Job 12:24
He taketh away the heart of the chief of the people of the earth, and causeth them to wander in a wilderness (tohu תהו) where there is no way.
Job 12:24
wilderness (tohu תהו) = vacancy
Job 26:7
He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, (tohu תהו) and hangeth the earth upon nothing.
Job 26:7
empty place (tohu תהו) = nothing
Psalm 107:40
He poureth contempt upon princes, and causeth them to wander in the wilderness, (tohu תהו) where there is no way.
Psalm 107:40
wilderness (tohu תהו) = void place (margin)
Isaiah 24:10
The city of confusion (tohu תהו) is broken down: every house is shut up, that no man may come in.
Isaiah 24:10
confusion (tohu תהו) = emptiness
Isaiah 29:21
That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nought. (tohu תהו)
Isaiah 29:21
nought (tohu תהו)
Isaiah 40:17
All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity. (tohu תהו)
Isaiah 40:17
vanity (tohu תהו) = nothing/less than nothing
Isaiah 40:23
That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity. (tohu תהו)
Isaiah 40:23
vanity (tohu תהו) = nothing
Isaiah 41:29
Behold, they are all vanity; their works are nothing: their molten images are wind and confusion. (tohu תהו)
Isaiah 41:29
confusion (tohu תהו) = nothing
Isaiah 44:9
They that make a graven image are all of them vanity; (tohu תהו) and their delectable things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed.
Isaiah 44:9
vanity (tohu תהו) = nothing
Isaiah 45:18
For thus saith [JEHOVAH] that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, (tohu תהו) he formed it to be inhabited: I am [JEHOVAH]; and there is none else.
Isaiah 45:18
in vain (tohu תהו) = without form
NB. ANTITHETIC parallelism: contrast “IN VAIN” vs. “formed” | “in vain” = UNFORMED (without form) — i.e., since “in vain” is antithetical to “formed”, then “in vain” is synonymous with “without form”.
Isaiah 45:19
I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain: (tohu תהו) I [JEHOVAH] speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.
Isaiah 45:19
in vain (tohu תהו) = dark place
Isaiah 49:4
Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, (tohu תהו) and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with [JEHOVAH], and my work with my God.
Isaiah 49:4
nought (tohu תהו)
Isaiah 59:4
None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, (tohu תהו) and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.
Isaiah 59:4
vanity (tohu תהו) = emptiness
NB. “(trust in) vanity” = [things] empty/void of truth and justice — i.e., (speak) lies = NO truth, (conceive) mischief and (bring forth) iniquity = NO justice.
Tohu (תהו) and Bohu (בהו) Together
All Occurrences of Tohu (תהו) in Synthesis with Bohu (בהו)
Genesis 1:2
And the earth was without form, (tohu תהו) and void; (bohu בהו) and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
Genesis 1:2
without form (tohu תהו) = nothingness
void (bohu בהו) = emptiness
NB. SYNONYMOUS parallelism: “without form, and void” = DARKNESS — i.e., total ABSENCE of light/creation; “And the earth was [absent]…”
Isaiah 34:11
11 But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it: and he shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion, (tohu תהו) and the stones of emptiness. (bohu בהו)
12 They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all her princes shall be nothing.
Isaiah 34:11-12
confusion (tohu תהו) = vacancy
emptiness (bohu בהו) = nothingness
Jeremiah 4:23
I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, (tohu תהו) and void; (bohu בהו) and the heavens, and they had no light.
Jeremiah 4:23
without form (tohu תהו) = nothingness
void (bohu בהו) = emptiness
NB. SYNONYMOUS parallelism: “without form, and void” = no light — i.e., DARKNESS/ABSENCE.