Tohu wa-bohu

Tohu wa bohu, or Tohu va vohu (תֹ֙הוּ֙ וָבֹ֔הוּ), is a Biblical Hebrew phrase found in the Book of Genesis 1:2 that describes the condition of the earth before God said, "Let there be light" (Gen. 1:3). Precise translation of the phrase is difficult, since it is a Hebrew wordplay, like ve-ha-oniyyah hishevah le-hishaver in Jonah 1:4. Numerous interpretations of this phrase were made by various theological sources, though it is usually translated as "waste and void," "formless and empty," or "chaos and desolation."

וְהָאָ֗רֶץ הָיְתָ֥ה תֹ֙הוּ֙ וָבֹ֔הוּ וְחֹ֖שֶׁךְ עַל־פְּנֵ֣י תְהֹ֑ום וְר֣וּחַ אֱלֹהִ֔ים מְרַחֶ֖פֶת עַל־פְּנֵ֥י הַמָּֽיִם‎

Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

The Septuagint renders it as ἀόρατος καὶ ἀκατα-σκεύαστος, "shapeless and formless".

The interpretation of the first verse of Genesis is the subject of a discussion between Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Ishmael (Gen. R. 1:14), in which Rabbi Akiva is refuting gnostic and other heretical views that matter existed primordially and that God alone did not create the world. In Gen. R. 2:2, R. Abbahu and R. Judah b. R. Simon give analogies in which tohu wa-bohu means "bewildered and astonished" (mentally formless and void), referring to the Earth's confusion after, having been created simultaneously with the Heavens in Genesis 1:1, it now immediately plays an inferior role.

Abraham bar Hiya was the first to interpret the tohu and bohu of Gen. 1:2 as meaning matter and form, and the same idea appears in Bahir 2.9–10.Kabbalah also names Yesod hapashut ("simple element") as source of four elements, in that everything is united as one, without differentiation.

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