Tohu תֹּ֫הוּ

Tohu (Hebrew תֹּ֫הוּ, Strong's H8414) is a Hebrew masculine noun meaning “formlessness”. It occurs 20 times in 19 verses of the Old Testament.

Definition

From the STEPBible Brief Lexicon of Hebrew (based on the abridged Brown-Driver-Briggs), STEPBible.org, CC BY 4.0.

Translated as

Verses

Every verse with Tohu, with the English words that translate it highlighted (KJV or BSB; other translations show the KJV here).

Genesis

• Genesis 1:2
  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.Now the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

Deuteronomy

• Deuteronomy 32:10
  He 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.He found him in a desert land, in a barren, howling wilderness; He surrounded him, He instructed him, He guarded him as the apple of His eye.

1 Samuel

• 1 Samuel 12:21
  And turn ye not aside: for then should ye go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver; for they are vain.Do not turn aside after worthless things that cannot profit you or deliver you, for they are empty.

Job

• Job 6:18
  The paths of their way are turned aside; they go to nothing, and perish.Caravans turn aside from their routes; they go into the wasteland and perish.
• 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 where there is no way.He deprives the earth’s leaders of reason and makes them wander in a trackless wasteland.
• Job 26:7
  He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth upon nothing.

Psalms

• Psalm 107:40
  He poureth contempt upon princes, and causeth them to wander in the wilderness, where there is no way.He pours out contempt on the nobles and makes them wander in a trackless wasteland.

Isaiah

• Isaiah 24:10
  The city of confusion is broken down: every house is shut up, that no man may come in.The city of chaos is shattered; every house is closed to entry.
• 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.those who indict a man with a word, who ensnare the mediator at the gate, and who with false charges deprive the innocent of justice.
• Isaiah 34:11
  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, and the stones of emptiness.The desert owl and screech owl will possess it, and the great owl and raven will dwell in it. The LORD will stretch out over Edom a measuring line of chaos and a plumb line of destruction.
• Isaiah 40:17
  All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.All the nations are as nothing before Him; He regards them as nothingness and emptiness.
• Isaiah 40:23
  That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.He brings the princes to nothing and makes the rulers of the earth meaningless.
• Isaiah 41:29
  Behold, they are all vanity; their works are nothing: their molten images are wind and confusion.See, they are all a delusion; their works amount to nothing; their images are as empty as the wind.
• Isaiah 44:9
  They that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed.All makers of idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Their witnesses fail to see or comprehend, so they are put to shame.
• Isaiah 45:18
  For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord; and there is none else.For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens—He is God; He formed the earth and fashioned it; He established it; He did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited: “I am the LORD, and there is no other.
• 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: I the Lord speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.I have not spoken in secret, from a place in a land of darkness. I did not say to the descendants of Jacob, ‘Seek Me in a wasteland.’ I, the LORD, speak the truth; I say what is right.
• Isaiah 49:4
  Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God.But I said, “I have labored in vain, I have spent My strength in futility and vanity; yet My vindication is with the LORD, and My reward is with My God.”
• Isaiah 59:4
  None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.No one calls for justice; no one pleads his case honestly. They rely on empty pleas; they tell lies; they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.

Jeremiah

• Jeremiah 4:23
  I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.I looked at the earth, and it was formless and void; I looked to the heavens, and they had no light.

Notes

1. Definition and verse list from STEPBible's tagged Hebrew Old Testament (TAHOT) and Greek New Testament (TAGNT) and Brief Lexicons, STEPBible.org, CC BY 4.0.
2. English renderings from the public-domain KJV with Strong's numbers (eBible.org) and the Berean Standard Bible interlinear (public domain).