The Hebrew assonance tohu wa-bohu is often translated in English as “formless void” or some equivalent, but in some translations and languages attempts have been made to recreate some of its literary flavor:
English: wild and waste (Everett Fox 1995); welter and waste (Robert Alter 2004); void and vacant (James Moffatt 1935); complete chaos (New Revised Standard Version, updated edition 2021)
German: Irrsal und Wirrsal (Buber / Rosenzweig 1976); wüst und wirr (Einheitsübersetzung, 1980/2016)
French: vide et vague (La Bible de Jérusalem, 1975)
Ancient Greek: aóratos kaí akataskévastos (ἀόρατος καὶ ἀκατασκεύαστος) (Septuagint)
A number of modern languages have also adopted form of tohu wa-bohu as an idiom for a state of chaos. These include:
The Greek of Philippians 2:9 that is translated as “the name that is above every other name” in most English versions is translated in the DutchStatenvertaling (1886/2024) as een Naam gegeven, welke boven allen naam is and in the interconfessional FrenchTraduction œcuménique de la Bible (2010) as le Nom qui est au-dessus de tout nom. In both of these cases, the first instance of the word for “name” is capitalized (Naam and Nom), elevating it to a divine level (along with words that translate “Lord,” “God” etc.).
This might well be a reflection of what a footnote to this verse in the GermanNeue Genfer Übersetzung (2011) says: “It [the first occurrence of “name” in this verse] probably refers to the ‘Lord’ (in the Septuagint [the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible] the rendering of ‘Yahweh,’ the proper name of God).” Likewise in the interconfessional Catalan translation (1995) it says: “Paul refers here to the name of the Lord (v. 11; Acts 2:21, 36), a term that in the Old Testament is used to designate God.” In other words, by this reading, God gave to Jesus the additional name “Yahweh” (which is known from the Hebrew scriptures to be the “Name above all Names — see Nehemiah 9:5 etc.), “so that every knee should bend to Jesus (as to Yahweh)” (see Philippians 2:10). (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
The Hebrew in Genesis 20:16 that is translated as “all who are with you” in English is translated in the Ancient Greek of the Septuagint implicitly in a way that “all” refers to females only by using a feminine form (ταῖς). The Classical Armenian version translates this from the Septuagint explicitly as “all the women who are with you” (ew amenayn kananc or y’nd qez en / եւ ամենայն կանանց որ ընդ քեզ են). (Source: Manuel M. Jinbachian in The Bible Translator 2004, p. 364ff. )
The Hebrew term for the plant that is translated in a variety of ways in English, including “vine,” “gourd,” or simply “plant” or “bush” has a long history of controversial translations.
Law (2013, p. 170) quotes from one of the letters of Augustine (354-430 AD) who was a strong defender of the Ancient GreekSeptuagint translation: “In Oea [ancient city in present-day Tripoli, Libya], a bishop read from Jerome’s translation of Jonah, and because of the strange new rendering he almost lost his congregation. The [Greek] Bible of the church had ‘gourd’ (kolokýnthi / κολοκύνθῃ) in Jonah 4:6, but Jerome had changed it to the Latin word for ‘ivy’ [hedera]. The congregation in attendance fumed upon hearing the new translation and accused it of being ‘Judaized.’ Jews were called in to explain the rendering, and they claimed that Jerome was wrong and the Septuagint was right all along. Whether this actually happened is irrelevant. Augustine has either reported a real event or has created a literary fiction, but either way he provides a window into the struggle of parting with the church’s Bible in favor of Jerome’s new translation.”
This divergence in opinion can be seen up to the present day. Older Catholic versions that are based one the Latin Vulgate (for instance the EnglishDouay-Rheims or the translation by Knox) will use a word for a climbing plant such as “ivy” or “vine,” other translations use a large variety of translations, including the “safe” choice “plant.” In the UBS handbook Plants and Trees in the Bible, Koops (2012, p. 127) says: “The identity of Jonah’s qiqayon plant has been debated since the days of St. Jerome and St. Augustine. [Several scholars] advocate the castor oil plant (Ricinus communis) as the qiqayon. But the King James Version’s ‘gourd’ has a long history, including its use in the Septuagint. The Vulgate translated qiqayon as hedera (‘ivy’) but that rendering has not had further botanical support. In 1955 an in-depth study of the literature going back as far as St. Jerome was made and its author votes hesitantly for the gourd (colocynth). Some scholars even suggest it could be an Assyrian word inserted in the story just to make it sound foreign, or even a made-up word.”
In Newari it is translated as “pumpkin plant” (source: Newari Back Translation).
For “The Lord of hosts has sworn in my hearing,” see James 5:4.
Note that this quote in the New Testament is not taken from the Hebrew Bible but from the Greek Septuagint (LXX) which translates into English as “in the ears of the Lord Sabaoth.” (Translation by NETS — for the Greek version see the title’s tooltip)
The Hebrew that is translated as “ornamented robe” or similar in English is translated in Kim as mwaɗak or “multi-colored (robe),” following the traditional translation (Greek Septuagint: χιτῶνα ποικίλον; LatinVulgate: tunicam polymitam; EnglishKing James/Authorised Version: coat of many colours; German Luther translation: bunter Rock etc.)
In Gbaya, the pattern of the robe is emphasized with ŋunyuŋ, an ideophone that refers to anything that is spotted, speckled, or marbled. Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)
For the phrase “Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights” see Matthew 12:40.
Note that this quote in the New Testament is not taken from the Hebrew Bible but from the Greek Septuagint (LXX) which translates to English as “Jonah was in the belly of the sea monster three days and three nights.'” (Translation by NETS — for the Greek version see the title’s tooltip)
For the phrase “When you are disturbed, do not sin,” see Ephesians 4:26.
Note that this quote in the New Testament is not taken from the Hebrew Bible but from the Greek Septuagint (LXX) which translates into English as “Be angry, and do not sin.” (Translation by NETS — for the Greek version see the title’s tooltip)
