תֹּהוּ

Meaning:

Formless

Waste

Futile

Meaningless

Nothing

Chaos

Masculine. Noun.

Describes something that is unformed or purposeless. It often pairs with בֹּהוּ - void -forming the phrase תֹ֨הוּ֙ וָבֹ֔הוּ, a poetic expression for utter chaos or emptiness.

Biblical Examples

- Creation initially“without form and void”

“Now the earth was formless and void”

Here, תֹּהוּ describes the earth before God's creative ordering. It wasn't evil, just unstructured and lifeless, awaiting divine organization and purpose.

— The wilderness

“He found him in a desert land, and in the waste”

Here תֹּהוּ evokes desolation and barrenness, a place where life and order are absent.

— God did not create the earth in vain

“He did not create it to be empty”

This contrasts תֹּהוּ with God's intention for structure and habitation, highlighting His purposeful creation.

These passages use תֹּהוּ to describe moral or cosmic chaos, often as judgment imagery where the world returns to a pre-creation-like void.

Theological Significance

Creation Theology: Genesis 1:2 emphasizes that God brings order out of chaos, transforming chaos into a structured, life-filled cosmos.

Prophetic Imagery: Prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah use the term to describe spiritual or societal collapse, suggesting a return to chaos when God's order is rejected.

Purpose versus Futility: The word becomes a symbol for life without God's purpose—empty, futile, and directionless.

Common grammatical forms

Grammatical Category	English Meaning	Hebrew Form
Singular (absolute)	formlessness, emptiness, chaos	תֹּהוּ
Singular (construct)	formlessness of…, emptiness of…	תֹּהוּ — unchanged (rare, used as a fixed form)
Plural (absolute)	desolations, wastes (rare poetic form)	תֹּהִים or תֹּהוּיִם
Plural (construct)	desolations of… (poetic or hypothetical)	תֹּהֵי
With definite article (singular)	the formlessness, the emptiness	הַתֹּהוּ
With preposition בְּ (“in”)	in formlessness / in emptiness	בַּתֹּהוּ or בְּתֹּהוּ
With preposition לְ (“to/for”)	to emptiness / for nothingness	לַתֹּהוּ or לְתֹּהוּ
With preposition מִן (“from”)	from emptiness / out of formlessness	מִתֹּהוּ