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Void
Usually considered as the emptiness or nothingness before the world was created. Genesis 1 begins:
1:1 In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth,
2 the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. | | NRS Genesis 1 |
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While the Indo-european root for void is euә [1], the original hebrew text has tohuw va bohuw for what is translated as 'formless void'.
Strong's data for 'tohuw':
8414 WhTo? tohuw {to'-hoo}
- from an unused root meaning to lie waste; TWOT - 2494a; n m
- AV - vain 4, vanity 4, confusion 3, without form 2, wilderness 2, nought 2, nothing 1, empty place 1, waste 1; 20
- 1) formlessness, confusion, unreality, emptiness 1a) formlessness (of primeval earth) 1a1) nothingness, empty space 1b) that which is empty or unreal (of idols) (fig) 1c) wasteland, wilderness (of solitary places) 1d) place of chaos 1e) vanity
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and for 'bohuw':
0922 WhBo? bohuw {bo'-hoo}
- from an unused root (meaning to be empty); TWOT - 205a; n m
- AV - void 2, emptiness 1; 3
- 1) emptiness, void, waste
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It should be noted - and has been argued - that tohuw va bohuw (or tohu va bohu) can also mean a 'waste (and a) wilderness', a 'Chaos'...
See also: Chaos
FolderHebrewMythology FolderCreationMyths
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