H0922 H0922
emptiness, void, wasteland; paired with tohu to describe primordial chaos or judgment desolation
A poetic term for emptiness or void, appearing only in the phrase 'tohu wabohu' (formless and void) or in similar contexts. Genesis 1:2 describes the pre-creation earth as 'tohu wabohu.' Jeremiah uses the same phrase to depict the earth under God's judgment returning to chaos (Jeremiah 4:23). Isaiah employs it metaphorically: God will stretch over Edom 'the line of tohu and the stones of bohu'—using surveying imagery for destruction rather than construction (Isaiah 34:11). The word evokes primordial chaos or eschatological undoing.
Senses
1. sense 1 — Emptiness or void, used to describe chaos—either primordial (Genesis 1:2) or as a result of judgment. Jeremiah's vision of devastated Judah echoes creation language reversed: 'I looked at the earth, and behold, it was tohu wabohu' (Jeremiah 4:23). Isaiah pictures Edom measured with 'the line of confusion (tohu) and stones of emptiness (bohu)' (Isaiah 34:11), inverting the tools of building into instruments of ruin. 3×
AR["الْخَلَاءِ", "وَ-خَالِيَةً", "وَ-خَالِيَةٌ"]·ben["এবং-গোলমাল", "ও-অগোছালো", "শূন্যতার"]·DE["[בהו]", "[ובהו]", "und-leer"]·EN["and-void", "of-emptiness"]·FR["[בהו]", "[ובהו]", "et-vide"]·heb["בוהו", "ו-בוהו"]·HI["अराजकता-के", "और-खाली", "और-शून्य"]·ID["dan-kosong", "kekosongan"]·IT["e-void", "e-vuoto", "vuoto"]·jav["lan-kosong", "lan-suwung", "suwung"]·KO["그리고-공허", "그리고-공허했다", "황폐의"]·PT["e-vaga", "e-vazia", "vazio"]·RU["и-безвидна", "и-хаотична", "хаоса"]·ES["de-vacío", "y-vacía"]·SW["na-haina-umbo", "na-tupu", "ya-machafuko"]·TR["kaos", "ve-boş"]·urd["اور-خالی", "اور-ویران", "بےترتیبی-کے"]
Related Senses
H5414 1. give, bestow (1855×)H3947 1. take, seize, grasp (Qal) (940×)G2192 1. possess / have (680×)G1325 1. give, bestow (336×)H5159 1. inherited land or property (170×)G2983 1. receive, obtain (134×)H3423 1. Qal: take possession of land (130×)G2983 2. take, take up (113×)G2398 1. one's own, belonging to oneself (91×)G3860 1. hand over, deliver to custody (78×)H7998 1. spoil, plunder, booty (74×)G1325 2. be given, be granted (70×)H5414 2. put, place, set (68×)H7999a 1. pay, repay, recompense (63×)H7069 1. Buy, purchase (59×)H1892 1. vanity, futility, absurdity (58×)H5159 2. heritage as covenant portion (52×)H6299 1. redeem or ransom (Qal active) (49×)H4376 1. Sell (Qal active) (47×)H1350a 1. Redeem, buy back (46×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
† בֹּ֫הוּ n.[m.] emptiness (on form v. Ges§ 84 a, 1 b Sta§ 95, 198 a, on usage cf. LagOr. ii. 60 f.) always c. תֹּהוּ q.v.;—תֹּהוּ וָבֹהוּ Gn 1:2 of primæval earth; Je 4:23 of earth under judgment of י׳; קַו־תֹֿהוּ וְאַבְנֵי בֹהוּ Is 34:11, the line of wasteness and the stones of emptiness, i.e. plummets, employed, not as usual for building, but for destroying walls; cf. Di & v. sub אבן 6.