Tôhûw — H8414

Definition

masculine noun

a desolation (of surface), i.e. desert; figuratively, a worthless thing; adverbially, in vain

1. formlessness, confusion, unreality, emptiness
1. formlessness (of primeval earth)
1. nothingness, empty space
2. that which is empty or unreal (of idols) (fig)
3. wasteland, wilderness (of solitary places)
4. place of chaos
5. vanity

Usually translated as

vain, vanity, confusion, without form, wilderness, empty place, nothing, waste, nought

Origin

from an unused root meaning to lie waste

Greek equivalents

• ádikos (G94)
• aóratos (G517)
• dípsos (G1373)
• érēmos (G2048)
• kenós (G2756)
• mátaios (G3152)

Occurrences

Tôhûw occurs 20 times in 19 verses of the King James.

Distribution of the word across the Bible: Genesis (1), Deuteronomy (1), 1 Samuel (1), Job (3), Psalms (1), Isaiah (11), Jeremiah (1)

• Genesis 1:2 — And the earth was without form (תֹ֙הוּ֙), and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
• Deuteronomy 32:10 — He found him in a desert land, and in the waste (וּבְתֹ֖הוּ) howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.
• 1 Samuel 12:21 — And turn ye not aside: for then should ye go after vain (הַתֹּ֗הוּ) things, which cannot profit nor deliver; for they are vain.
• 1 Samuel 12:21 — And turn ye not aside: for then should ye go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver; for they are vain (תֹ֥הוּ).
• Job 6:18 — The paths of their way are turned aside; they go to nothing (בַתֹּ֣הוּ), and perish.
• Job 12:24 — He taketh away the heart of the chief of the people of the earth, and causeth them to wander in a wilderness (בְּתֹ֣הוּ) where there is no way.
• Job 26:7 — He stretcheth out the north over the empty place (תֹּ֑הוּ), and hangeth the earth upon nothing.
• Psalms 107:40 — He poureth contempt upon princes, and causeth them to wander in the wilderness (בְּתֹ֣הוּ), where there is no way.
• Isaiah 24:10 — The city of confusion (תֹּ֑הוּ) is broken down: every house is shut up, that no man may come in.
• Isaiah 29:21 — That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for (בַתֹּ֖הוּ) a thing of nought.
• Isaiah 34:11 — But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it: and he shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion (תֹ֖הוּ), and the stones of emptiness.
• Isaiah 40:17 — All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity (וָתֹ֖הוּ).
• Isaiah 40:23 — That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity (כַּתֹּ֥הוּ).
• Isaiah 41:29 — Behold, they are all vanity; their works are nothing: their molten images are wind and confusion (וָתֹ֖הוּ).
• Isaiah 44:9 — They that make a graven image are all of them vanity (תֹּ֔הוּ); and their delectable things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed.
• Isaiah 45:18 — For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain (תֹ֥הוּ), he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.
• Isaiah 45:19 — I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain (תֹּ֣הוּ): I the LORD speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.
• Isaiah 49:4 — Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for (לְתֹ֥הוּ) nought, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the LORD, and my work with my God.
• Isaiah 59:4 — None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity (תֹּ֙הוּ֙), and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.
• Jeremiah 4:23 — I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form (תֹ֖הוּ), and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.