====== תֹּהוּ ======
{{tag>hebrew}}
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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 =====

<autott>genesis_1:2|Genesis 1:2</autott> - 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.

<autott>deuteronomy_32:10|Deuteronomy 32:10</autott> — 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.

<autott>isaiah_45:18|Isaiah 45:18</autott> — 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.

<autott>jeremiah_4:23|Jeremiah 4:23</autott>
  * 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 |