What does תְּהוֹם (tĕhwōm) mean in the Bible?
The deep names vast watery depths, whether described in a narrative or evoked through poetry. Genesis places darkness over its surface before the account of God's ordering speech.
Hebrew · H8415
תְּהוֹם
The deep names vast watery depths, whether described in a narrative or evoked through poetry. Genesis places darkness over its surface before the account of God's ordering speech.
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תְּהוֹםH8415
Pronunciationtĕhwōm
What does תְּהוֹם (tĕhwōm) mean in the Bible?
Reader summary
Full entry for תְּהוֹם (H8415) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render H8415?
The BSB source-word alignment has 36 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include of the deep (6), deep (5), the deep (4), The depths (4), the watery depths (2).
Where does תְּהוֹם (tĕhwōm) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 1:2. Its strongest book concentrations include Psalms (12), Genesis (4), Job (4), Proverbs (4).
What This Word Actually Means
The deep names vast watery depths, whether described in a narrative or evoked through poetry. Genesis places darkness over its surface before the account of God's ordering speech. The song in Exodus speaks of depths covering the forces that pursued Israel into the sea. Psalm 42 draws on roaring waterfalls, breakers, and waves to voice the speaker's sense of being overwhelmed.
The word helps readers feel the scale and power of water, but those passages do different work. Creation description, remembered deliverance, and lament should not be compressed into one account of a hostile spiritual being. In each setting the surrounding sentences show how the watery depth relates to God's action and human experience. Its force lies in that contextual portrayal rather than an assumed secret meaning behind the noun.
How the Bible Uses It
Watery depth appears in creation's description, the sea-deliverance song, and a lamenter's overwhelming imagery. These uses connect the noun with immense water while keeping narrative events and poetic experience distinct.
- Gen.1.2
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.
Darkness lies over the surface of the deep while the Spirit of God hovers over the waters, within the opening account that proceeds to God's ordering speech.
- Exod.15.5
The depths have covered them; they sank there like a stone.
The song recalls the pursuing forces sinking beneath the depths, praising the Lord for the deliverance narrated at the sea rather than describing every person's distress.
- Ps.42.7
Deep calls to deep in the roar of Your waterfalls; all Your breakers and waves have rolled over me.
The speaker's waterfalls, breakers and waves convey an overwhelming experience within a lament that also remembers God and returns to hope in Him.
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders Itof the deep6×Genesis 1:2, Genesis 8:2, Job 38:16, Job 38:30
deep5×Genesis 7:11, Psalms 42:7, Isaiah 51:10, Amos 7:4
the deep4×Job 41:32, Ezekiel 26:19, Ezekiel 31:15, Habakkuk 3:10
The depths4×Exodus 15:5, Exodus 15:8, Psalms 33:7, Psalms 77:16
the watery depths2×Proverbs 3:20, Jonah 2:5
through the depths2×Psalms 106:9, Isaiah 63:13
and ocean depths1×Psalms 148:7
and springs1×Deuteronomy 8:7
and the deep waters1×Deuteronomy 33:13
as the seas1×Psalms 78:15
Even from the depths1×Psalms 71:20
it with the deep1×Psalms 104:6
like the deepest sea1×Psalms 36:6
of the depths1×Genesis 49:25
the deep springs1×Ezekiel 31:4
The ocean depths1×Job 28:14
their depths1×Psalms 135:6
to the depths1×Psalms 107:26
watery depths1×Proverbs 8:24
Show sample aligned rows
Genesis 1:2תְה֑וֹםtoof the deepNoun - common singularGenesis 7:11תְּה֣וֹםtodeepNoun - common singularGenesis 8:2תְּה֔וֹםtoof the deepNoun - common singularGenesis 49:25תְּה֖וֹםtoof the depthsNoun - common singularExodus 15:5תְּהֹמֹ֖תtoThe depthsNoun - common pluralExodus 15:8תְהֹמֹ֖תtothe depthsNoun - common pluralDeuteronomy 8:7וּתְהֹמֹ֔תtoand springsConjunctive waw | Noun - common pluralDeuteronomy 33:13וּמִתְּה֖וֹםtoand the deep watersConjunctive waw, Preposition-m | Noun - common singularJob 28:14תְּה֣וֹםtoThe ocean depthsNoun - common singularJob 38:16תְּ֝ה֗וֹםtoof the deepNoun - common singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned rowGenesis 1:2
Aligned rows36
Books represented11
Genesis4Exodus2Deuteronomy2Job4Psalms12Proverbs4Isaiah2Ezekiel3Amos1Jonah1Habakkuk1
Source forms
תְּה֣וֹם7xtə·hō·wmGenesis 7:11, Job 28:14, Job 41:32, Psalms 36:6
תְּה֔וֹם3xtə·hō·wmGenesis 8:2, Ezekiel 26:19, Ezekiel 31:15
תְּה֖וֹם3xtə·hō·wmGenesis 49:25, Ezekiel 31:4, Jonah 2:5
תְּהוֹמֽוֹת׃2xtə·hō·w·mō·wṯPsalms 33:7, Psalms 135:6
בַּ֝תְּהֹמ֗וֹת1xbat·tə·hō·mō·wṯPsalms 106:9
בַּתְּהֹמ֑וֹת1xbat·tə·hō·mō·wṯIsaiah 63:13
וּמִתְּה֖וֹם1xū·mit·tə·hō·wmDeuteronomy 33:13
וּֽמִתְּהֹמ֥וֹת1xū·mit·tə·hō·mō·wṯPsalms 71:20
Parsing patterns
Noun - common singular21xGenesis 1:2, Genesis 7:11, Genesis 8:2, Genesis 49:25
Noun - common plural9xExodus 15:5, Exodus 15:8, Psalms 33:7, Psalms 77:16
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - common plural2xPsalms 106:9, Isaiah 63:13
Conjunctive waw | Noun - common plural1xDeuteronomy 8:7
Conjunctive waw, Preposition-m | Noun - common plural construct1xPsalms 71:20
Conjunctive waw, Preposition-m | Noun - common singular1xDeuteronomy 33:13
Preposition-k | Noun - common plural construct1xPsalms 78:15
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Use overwhelming-water imagery to hear sorrow carefully, without making spiritual accusations from the image alone.
- Speak of God's sustaining presence while allowing lament its full scriptural place and avoiding a promised timetable for relief.
Evidence Summary
Hebrew word. Cosmic chaos-water personified; represents untamed, primordial forces opposing divine order and human stability.
Source Gloss
an abyss (as a surging mass of water), especially the deep (the main sea or the subterranean watersupply)
Extended definitionSource: Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon + Brown-Driver-Briggs
Cosmic chaos-water personified; represents untamed, primordial forces opposing divine order and human stability.
an abyss (as a surging mass of water), especially the deep (the main sea or the subterranean watersupply) BDB: deep Usage: deep (place), depth.
Grammatical Forms
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Word Origins
תְּהוֹם is built from this root:
הוּםH1949
Part of These Phrases
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
For the Preacher and Teacher
Psalm 42 speaks of overwhelming waters while continuing to address God. That combination matters: the speaker's experience is not silenced by a quick claim that faithful people never feel submerged. At the same time, the poetic deep does not replace Genesis' creation description or Exodus' remembered drowning of Israel's pursuers. Each passage gives the water its own setting and relationship to God's rule.
Genesis proceeds from darkness and waters to divine speech; Exodus sings of accomplished deliverance; the psalm voices sorrow alongside remembrance and hope. Responsible teaching lets those voices remain audible. It can encourage honest prayer without diagnosing every struggle as divine punishment, and it can praise God's power without presenting a watery noun as a complete explanation of creation or the spiritual world.
Anchor passage
Ps.42.7
Doctrinal connections
- Genesis 1:2 places the watery deep within the opening account of God's creative ordering.
- Genesis 7:11 includes the fountains of the great deep within the narrated onset of the flood.
- Exodus 15:4-5 remembers the sea covering Pharaoh's forces in the song celebrating Israel's deliverance.
- Psalm 42:7-8 holds overwhelming water imagery beside remembrance of the Lord's loving devotion.
- Job 38:16 asks about the depths within divine questions that expose the limits of Job's knowledge.
- Mark 4:39-41 presents Jesus commanding the wind and sea, prompting the disciples' question about His identity.
The Hebrew noun's watery-depth range accommodates both described waters and a poetic image of overwhelming experience. It does not independently identify a personal enemy, and the English word abyss in another translation requires attention to that passage's own source term.
From Old to New Testament
The disciples' storm account in Mark 4 places actual threatening water under Jesus' command and raises a question about who He is. It can be considered beside Old Testament testimony to God's rule over waters, without pretending that the Greek sea term is the Hebrew noun studied here.