What does תֹּהוּ · בֹּהוּ mean in the Bible?
תֹּהוּ · בֹּהוּ is a Hebrew phrase meaning "formless and empty, waste and void".
Hebrew · H8414, H922
תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ
A desolation (of surface), i.e. desert ; figuratively, a worthless thing ; adverbially, in vain · a vacuity , i.e. (superficially) an undistinguishable ruin
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Words in this compound — expand to study each participant
תֹּהוּ H8414 a desolation (of surface), i.e. desert ; figuratively, a worthless thing ; adverbially, in vain
Pronunciation tōhû
Primordial chaos and emptiness; moves from cosmic formlessness to moral/spiritual worthlessness and futility.
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בֹּהוּ H922 a vacuity , i.e. (superficially) an undistinguishable ruin
Pronunciation bōhû
Primordial chaos or formlessness; often paired with תֹהוּ to describe precreation void or desolation.
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What does תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ (tohu vavohu) mean in the Bible?
תֹּהוּ · בֹּהוּ is a Hebrew phrase meaning "formless and empty, waste and void".
Full entry for תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ (H8414, H922) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How many biblical occurrences are listed for H8414, H922?
H8414, H922 is connected to 23 lexical occurrence verses in the lexicon data.
Evidence Summary
Hebrew phrase. formless and empty, waste and void
Strong's H8414, H922
Lexical occurrences 23 verses Source Gloss
formless and empty, waste and void
Grammatical Forms
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Sources
MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML — CC0 1.0 Public Domain
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (morphhb/OSHB) — CC BY 4.0
Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon — CC BY 4.0
Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain