Lexical Summary
tohu: Formlessness, emptiness, confusion, chaos, nothingness
Original Word:תֹּהוּ
Part of Speech:Noun Masculine
Transliteration:tohuw
Pronunciation:TOH-hoo
Phonetic Spelling:(to'-hoo)
KJV: confusion, empty place, without form, nothing, (thing of) nought, vain, vanity, waste, wilderness
NASB:waste, formless, futile, meaningless, nothing, waste place, chaos
Word Origin:[from an unused root meaning to lie waste]
1. a desolation (of surface), i.e. desert
2. (figuratively) a worthless thing
3. adverbially, in vain
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance
Tidal
From an unused root meaning to lie waste; a desolation (of surface), i.e. Desert; figuratively, a worthless thing; adverbially, in vain -- confusion, empty place, without form, nothing, (thing of) nought, vain, vanity, waste, wilderness.
NAS Exhaustive Concordance
Word Originfrom an unused word
Definitionformlessness, confusion, unreality, emptiness
NASB Translationchaos (1), confusion (1), desolation (1), emptiness (1), empty space (1), formless (2), futile (2), futile things (1), meaningless (2), meaningless arguments (1), nothing (2), waste (3), waste place (2).
Brown-Driver-Briggs
1Samuel 12:21 (Albr
ZAW xvi (1896), 112) (primary meaning difficult to seize; Vrss usually , , ,
inane, vacuum, vanum; compare Lag
Or. ii. 60; BN 144); —
formlessness, of primaeval earthGenesis 1:2 (P), of land reduced to primaeval chaosJeremiah 4:23 (both +and voidness),Isaiah 34:11 ("" ),Isaiah 45:18 ("" );Isaiah 24:10city of chaos (of ruined city); =nothingness, empty space,Job 26:7 ; of empty, tracklesswasteDeuteronomy 32:10 ("" ),Job 6:18;Job 12:24 =Psalm 107:40.
empty, unreal, as idols1 Samuel 12:21 (collective: ),1 Samuel 12:21;Isaiah 41:29 ,Isaiah 44:9 (of idol-makers), groundless arguments or considerations,Isaiah 29:21 ,Isaiah 59:4 moral unreality or falsehood ("" ); =a thing of nought (compare Ecclus 41:10 ),Isaiah 40:17 ("" ),Isaiah 40:23 ("" ),worthlessnessIsaiah 49:19 ("" ); as adverb accusativeIsaiah 45:19 I said not, seek meemptily, to no purpose. compareIsaiah 29:13 for .
Topical Lexicon
Semantic Range and Imageryתֹהוּ evokes a scene of shapelessness, desolation, and futility. The word is often paired with בֹּהוּ (“void”) or with verbs of wasting and overthrowing. It can describe physical barrenness, moral emptiness, political ruin, or spiritual vanity. In each context, תֹהוּ stands as the polar opposite of God’s ordered purpose.
Creation: The Formless Deep
Genesis 1:2 sets the theological baseline: “Now the earth was formless and void, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” The verse is not a concession to chaos mythology; rather, it highlights the power of God to bring cosmos out of תֹהוּ. All later uses of the word echo this primal contrast between what humanity can effect (emptiness) and what God alone accomplishes (order).
Wilderness Care and Covenantal Grace
Deuteronomy 32:10 recalls Israel’s infancy: “He found him in a desert land, in a barren, howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him.” God’s shepherding love transforms the wilderness of תֹהוּ into a training ground for covenant loyalty—proof that no wasteland is beyond divine redemption.
Vanity of Idolatry
When Samuel warns Israel, “Do not turn aside, for then you would go after futile things which cannot profit or deliver” (1 Samuel 12:21), תֹהוּ is applied to false gods. Isaiah expands the theme: “Those who fashion idols are all nothing, and their precious treasures are worthless” (Isaiah 44:9). The prophets thus expose idolatry as spiritual emptiness, incapable of yielding salvation.
National Judgment and Political Upheaval
Isaiah employs תֹהוּ repeatedly to portray coming devastation. “He brings the princes to nothing and makes the judges of the earth meaningless” (Isaiah 40:23). Cities like “the city of chaos” (Isaiah 24:10) become symbols of societal dissolution when nations rebel against divine sovereignty.Jeremiah 4:23 deliberately echoesGenesis 1:2 to depict Judah’s uncreation: “I looked at the earth, and it was formless and void; and at the heavens, and their light was gone.” Apostasy drags creation back toward chaos.
Cosmic Insignificance Apart from God
Isaiah 40:17 universalizes the term: “All the nations are as nothing before Him; He regards them as nothingness and emptiness.” Human glory detached from the Creator amounts to תֹהוּ—impressive in appearance yet weightless in eternal value.
The Servant’s Apparent Failure
Isaiah 49:4 captures the Messiah’s lament: “I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength in futility and vanity, yet surely my vindication is with the LORD.” The verse anticipates the cross, where apparent failure becomes redemptive triumph, proving that God alone converts תֹהוּ into glory.
Divine Purpose Established
Against every instance of emptiness standsIsaiah 45:18: “For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens—He is God; He formed the earth and established it; He did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited.” Creation’s goal is relational fullness, not sterile vacancy. God’s redemptive plan guarantees that תֹהוּ will never have the final word.
Pastoral and Missional Implications
1. Preaching should contrast human futility with divine purpose, calling hearers from self-made chaos into Christ-centered order.
2. Disciple-making turns spiritual wastelands into inhabited places, mirroring Israel’s journey from wilderness to promised land.
3. Social engagement must expose the emptiness of modern idolatries—materialism, relativism, self-exaltation—offering the gospel as the only remedy for תֹהוּ.
4. Personal suffering, perceived as “vain labor,” gains meaning in union with the Suffering Servant, whose apparent futility secured eternal fruit.
Summary
תֹהוּ is Scripture’s sober reminder that life apart from God reverts to formless desolation. Yet every usage also testifies that God confronts and overcomes such emptiness. From the Spirit hovering in Genesis to the new creation promised in Isaiah, the Bible moves inexorably from תֹהוּ to τέλειος—full, perfect completion in Christ.
Forms and Transliterations
בְּתֹ֣הוּ בַתֹּ֖הוּ בַתֹּ֣הוּ בתהו הַתֹּ֗הוּ התהו וָתֹ֖הוּ וּבְתֹ֖הוּ ובתהו ותהו כַּתֹּ֥הוּ כתהו לְתֹ֥הוּ לתהו תֹ֖הוּ תֹ֙הוּ֙ תֹ֥הוּ תֹּ֑הוּ תֹּ֔הוּ תֹּ֙הוּ֙ תֹּ֣הוּ תהו ḇat·tō·hū ḇattōhū bə·ṯō·hū beTohu bəṯōhū hat·tō·hū hatTohu hattōhū kat·tō·hū katTohu kattōhū lə·ṯō·hū leTohu ləṯōhū tō·hū ṯō·hū tohu tōhū ṯōhū ū·ḇə·ṯō·hū ūḇəṯōhū uveTohu vaTohu vatTohu wā·ṯō·hū wāṯōhū
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