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Hebrew

תֹּ֫הוּ to·hu

“formlessness” · 20 times in the Old Testament

Through the Bible

Genesis: onceExodus: 0 timesLeviticus: 0 timesNumbers: 0 timesDeuteronomy: onceJoshua: 0 timesJudges: 0 timesRuth: 0 times1 Samuel: 2 times2 Samuel: 0 times1 Kings: 0 times2 Kings: 0 times1 Chronicles: 0 times2 Chronicles: 0 timesEzra: 0 timesNehemiah: 0 timesEsther: 0 timesJob: 3 timesPsalms: onceProverbs: 0 timesEcclesiastes: 0 timesSong of Songs: 0 timesIsaiah: 11 timesJeremiah: onceLamentations: 0 timesEzekiel: 0 timesDaniel: 0 timesHosea: 0 timesJoel: 0 timesAmos: 0 timesObadiah: 0 timesJonah: 0 timesMicah: 0 timesNahum: 0 timesHabakkuk: 0 timesZephaniah: 0 timesHaggai: 0 timesZechariah: 0 timesMalachi: 0 timesMatthew: 0 timesMark: 0 timesLuke: 0 timesJohn: 0 timesActs: 0 timesRomans: 0 times1 Corinthians: 0 times2 Corinthians: 0 timesGalatians: 0 timesEphesians: 0 timesPhilippians: 0 timesColossians: 0 times1 Thessalonians: 0 times2 Thessalonians: 0 times1 Timothy: 0 times2 Timothy: 0 timesTitus: 0 timesPhilemon: 0 timesHebrews: 0 timesJames: 0 times1 Peter: 0 times2 Peter: 0 times1 John: 0 times2 John: 0 times3 John: 0 timesJude: 0 timesRevelation: 0 timesLawHistoryWisdomProphetsGospelsLetters
  • “wasteland” 4
  • “formless” 2
  • “empty” 2
  • “chaos” 2
  • “barren” 1
  • other ways 9
As a table, book by book
BookTimes
Genesis1
Deuteronomy1
1 Samuel2
Job3
Psalms1
Isaiah11
Jeremiah1

How the BSB translates it

Each way the Berean Standard Bible puts it into English, and how often.

  1. wasteland4
  2. chaos2
  3. empty2
  4. formless2
  5. as empty1
  6. barren1
  7. emptiness1
  8. empty pleas1
  9. empty space1
  10. futility1
  11. meaningless1
  12. nothing1
  13. 2 other ways2

Where it occurs

Grouped by how it’s translated, then by book. Each reference opens the verse.

“wasteland” 4

  • Job 2

    • 6:18 …their routes they go into the wasteland and perish…
    • 12:24 …wander in a trackless wasteland

  • Psalms 1

    • 107:40 …wander in a trackless wasteland

  • Isaiah 1

    • 45:19 …of Jacob Seek Me in a wasteland I the LORD speak…
“formless” 2

  • Genesis 1

    • 1:2 …Now the earth was formless and void and darkness…

  • Jeremiah 1

    • 4:23 …looked at the earth and it was formless and void I looked…
“empty” 2

  • 1 Samuel 1

    • 12:21 …you for they are empty

  • Isaiah 1

    • 45:18 …He did not create it to be empty but formed it to…
“chaos” 2

  • Isaiah 2

    • 24:10 …The city of chaos is shattered every house…
    • 34:11 …Edom a measuring line of chaos and a plumb line…
“barren” 1

  • Deuteronomy 1

    • 32:10 …in a desert land in a barren howling wilderness He surrounded…
“worthless” 1

  • 1 Samuel 1

    • 12:21 …not turn aside after worthless things that cannot profit…
“empty space” 1

  • Job 1

    • 26:7 …out the north over empty space He hangs the earth…
“who with false charges” 1

  • Isaiah 1

    • 29:21 …mediator at the gate and who with false charges deprive the innocent of…
“emptiness” 1

  • Isaiah 1

    • 40:17 …regards them as nothingness and emptiness
“meaningless” 1

  • Isaiah 1

    • 40:23 …rulers of the earth meaningless
“as empty” 1

  • Isaiah 1

    • 41:29 …to nothing their images are as empty as the wind…
“nothing” 1

  • Isaiah 1

    • 44:9 …All makers of idols are nothing and the things they…
“futility” 1

  • Isaiah 1

    • 49:4 …have spent My strength in futility and vanity yet My…
“empty pleas” 1

  • Isaiah 1

    • 59:4 …honestly They rely on empty pleas they tell lies they…

The Hebrew and Greek words, their glosses and grammar: STEP Bible (CC BY 4.0). The English: the Berean Standard Bible, which also gives which English words render which. Counts are ours.