King James Bible
King James Version (KJV)
STRONGS NUMBER H8414
Transliteration: tohu
Phonetic Spelling: (to'-hoo)
Part of Speech: Noun Masculine
Short Definition: formlessness, confusion, unreality, emptiness
Meaning: a desolation, desert, a worthless thing, in vain
Word Summary
tohu: formlessness, confusion, unreality, emptiness
Original Word: תֹּהוּTransliteration: tohu
Phonetic Spelling: (to'-hoo)
Part of Speech: Noun Masculine
Short Definition: formlessness, confusion, unreality, emptiness
Meaning: a desolation, desert, a worthless thing, in vain
Strong's Concordance
Tidal Perhaps from dchal; fearfulness; Tidal, a Canaanite -- Tidal.
see HEBREW dchal
Brown-Driver-Briggs
H8414. tohu
תֹּ֫הוּ noun masculine1 Samuel 12:21 (AlbrZAW xvi (1896), 112) formlessness, confusion, unreality, emptiness (primary meaning difficult to seize; Vrss usually Κενόν, οὐδέν, μάταιον, inane, vacuum, vanum; compare LagOr. ii. 60; BN 144); —
1 formlessness, of primaeval earth Genesis 1:2 (P), of land reduced to primaeval chaos Jeremiah 4:23 (both + וָבֹהוּ and voidness), Isaiah 34:11 ׳קַותֿֿ ("" בֹהוּ אַבְנֵי), 45:18 ת ׳לֹא בְרָאָהּ ("" יְצָרָתּ לָשֶׁבֶת); 24:10 ׳קִרְיַתאתּ city of chaos (of ruined city); = nothingness, empty space, Job 26:7 ׳עַלתּֿ אֶרֶץ תֹּלֶה; of empty, trackless waste Deuteronomy 32:10 ("" מִדְבָּר), Job 6:18; 12:24 = Psalm 107:40.
2 figurative of what is empty, unreal, as idols 1 Samuel 12:21 (collective: יוֺעִילוּ לֹא הַתּ ׳אַחֲרֵי אֲשֶׁר), 12:21; Isaiah 41:29 וָת ׳רוּחַ נִסְכֵּיהֶם, 44:9 (of idol-makers), groundless arguments or considerations, 29:21 בַתּ ׳וַיַּטּוּ צַדִּיק, 59:4 moral unreality or falsehood עַלאתּ ׳בָּטוֺחַ ("" וְדַבֶּרשָֿׁוְא); = a thing of nought (compare Ecclus 41:10 תהו אל מתהו), 40:17 ("" אֶפֶס אַיִן), 40:23 כַּתּ אֶרֶץ ׳שֹׁפְטֵי עָשָׂה ("" לְאַיִן), worthlessness 49:19 ׳לְת כִלֵּיתִי כֹּחִי וְהֶבֶל ("" יָגַעְתִּי לְרִיק); as adverb accusative 45:19 I said not, בַקְּשׁוּנִי תֹּהוּ seek me emptily, to no purpose. compare 29:13 וְתֹהוּ ᵐ5 for וַתְּהִי.