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 Hebrew in Genesis 1:2 that is translated into English as “moving (or: hovering) over the (sur)face of the waters” is translated into Ebira as “(the spirit of God) stayed above the water doing NANANA [ideophone].” (Source: Rob Koops)
In Bari it is translated with bibirto, “which is used of a bird hovering over its nest or fluttering round a bunch of ripe bananas.” (Source: Source: P. Guillebaud in The Bible Translator 1965, p. 189ff. .)
In Kutu it is translated as “spreading over the water” and in Nyamwezi as ku’elela: “to circle around slowly over water, without touching it.” In Kwere it is translated with katanda, which carries the meaning of being ‘spread out’ over the water as one would spread a blanket out over a bed. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
The Hebrew in Genesis 1:2 that is translated as “formless (and) void” in some English translations is translated in Mwera as “not moulded properly.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
In Takwane it is translated as “(That earth was) not good/beautiful (in state/form), nor did it have anything” (source: Jeff Shrum) and in Amele as “chaotic, empty and useless” (source: John Roberts).
Targum Neofiti translates it in Jewish Babylonian Aramaic as “(And the earth was) void and formless, desolate from humans and animals alike. It was empty of all planted vegetation and trees.” Targumim (or: Targums) are translations of the Hebrew Bible into Aramaic. They were translated and used when Jewish congregations increasingly could not understand the biblical Hebrew anymore. Targum Neofiti is the largest of the Aramaic translation of the Torah (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible). (Source )
The Hebrew that is translated as “spirit (or: Spirit) of God” (also: “wind of God”) in English was translated in the early 18th century Kalaallisut (Greenlandic) translation by Hans Egede as Guutip anersaava or “God’s breath.” He explained: “I cannot find no other word in the language suitable for articulating the idea of a spiritual being.” (Quoted in Flemming Nielsen in Elliott / Boer 2012, p. 113ff.)
Incidentally, the word anersaaq for “breath” that Egede had used has now morphed into meaning “spirit,” so the current translation (publ. 2000) has “Guutillu anersaavata” or “spirit of God,” using the same words.
The Hebrew in Genesis 1:2 that is translated as “(the) deep” in English is translated in Luba-Lulua as “a very deep hole in which there is water.” (Source: Jan Sterk)
In the Swabian 2007 translation by Rudolf Paul it is translated as Urmeer or “primordial ocean.”
The following is an overview of the creation story in Israeli Sign Language and its back-translation into English.
Genesis chapter 1 tells us how God created the world in the beginning.
In the beginning of all things there was deep water without boundaries. Darkness was everywhere. The Spirit of God moved over the waters.
On the first day God made light. God saw the light: it was good! God divided the light from the darkness.
The second day.
On the second day there was endless water everywhere. What did God do? He divided the waters up and down and put a strong arch in the middle. What did God call this arch? The sky. The waters are deep below, under the arch, and the waters are deep above, above the arch.
The third day.
What was the world like on the third day? Here is the firmament. Below it is the great expanse of water. What did God do? He gathered the waters together in one place. The place without water was dry land. God called the dry land ‘earth’. In sign language we make the gesture ‘EARTH’. God called the collection of water ‘seas’. In sign language we make the gesture ‘sea’.
And God made different plants grow from the dry land — herbs, flowers, fruit trees.
The fourth day.
On the fourth day, God made the sun, the moon and the stars. God put the sun and the moon on the firmament. And he put the stars all around the firmament. What are the sun, moon and stars for? They shine down on the earth. Because of the sun, moon and stars, we know when the days and nights are; the months and seasons change.
The fifth day.
On the fifth day, in the depths of the water, God made various sea creatures, large and small, and various fish. And on the earth God made all kinds of birds. The birds fly between the earth and the sky. God blessed the birds and the sea creatures and told them, “Be fruitful and multiply”.
The sixth day.
On the sixth day, God made various land animals on the earth — large animals, small animals, domestic animals, wild animals, reptiles and insects.
And on the sixth day God made man — male and female. God gave them His face. God blessed man and woman equally. God gave all animals to man. Man is God’s last and most important creation.
The following is a stained glass window from the Three choir windows in the Marienkirche, Frankfurt (Oder), Germany, of the 14th century, depicting God Above the Primordial Water:
Source: Der gläserne Schatz: Die Bilderbibel der St. Marienkirche in Frankfurt (Oder), Neuer Berlin Verlag, 2005, copyright for this image: Brandenburgisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologisches Landesmuseum
Stained glass is not just highly decorative, it’s a medium which has been used to express important religious messages for centuries. Literacy was not widespread in the medieval and Renaissance periods and the Church used stained glass and other artworks to teach the central beliefs of Christianity. In Gothic churches, the windows were filled with extensive narrative scenes in stained glass — like huge and colorful picture storybooks — in which worshipers could ‘read’ the stories of Christ and the saints and learn what was required for their religious salvation. (Source: Victoria and Albert Museum )
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