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 (Fox 1995); welter and waste (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 “(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 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.
Greek, Hebrew, Latin, Ge’ez, and Aramaic all have one term only that refers to what can be expressed in English as “sky” or “heaven(s)” (as a physical and spiritual entity). While there is a slight overlap between the meaning of the two English terms, “sky” (from Old Norse sky meaning “cloud”) typically refers to the physical entity, and “heaven” (from Old English heofon meaning “home of God”) typically refers to the spiritual entity. While this enriches the English lexicon, it also forces English Bible translators to make decisions that can be found only in the context in the Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic texts. Most versions tend to use “heaven(s)” even if the meaning is likely “sky,” but the Contemporary English Version (NT: 1991, OT: 1995, DC: 1999) is an English translation that attempted to be more specific in the separation of the two meanings and was used as the basis for the links to verses used for this and this record (“sky”).
Norm Mundhenk (in The Bible Translator 2006, p. 92ff. ) describes the difficulty that English translations face (click or tap here to see more):
“A number of years ago an old lady asked me a question. What did Jesus mean when he said, ‘Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away’? I do not remember what answer I gave, but I was surprised at how concerned she seemed to be about the verse. It was only later, after I had left her, that I suddenly realized what it was that she was so concerned about. She knew that death could not be far away, and all her life she had looked forward to being with God in heaven. But this verse said that ‘heaven will pass away’! What did that mean for her hopes? In fact, of course, in this verse Jesus was talking about the skies or the heavens, not about Heaven as the place of God’s presence. If I had realized the problem in time, I could easily have set the lady’s mind at rest on this question that was troubling her so much. However, I suspect that she is not the only person to be misled by the wording of this verse. Therefore, it is very surprising to find that even today many English versions (including the New International Version, New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, Good News Translation) still say ‘heaven and earth’ in verses like Matt 24:35 and its parallels (Mark 13:31 and Luke 21:33). The Contemporary English Version (CEV) and Phillips’ translation seem to be aware of the problem, and in Mark 13:31 both of these have ‘earth and sky’ instead of ‘heaven and earth.’ But in some other passages (such as Matt 5:18) the traditional wording is still found in both of those translations. The New Century Version (NCV) does have ‘earth and sky’ more consistently, and the New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) has ‘sky and earth’ in these passages. (Although ‘sky and earth’ is closer to the Greek, it seems more natural in English to say ‘earth and sky’; but either way, at least the meaning is correct.)
“Louw and Nida’s Lexical Semantics of the Greek New Testament (publ. 1992) suggests that the Greek expression being translated here, ho ouranos kai he ge is ‘a more or less fixed phrase equivalent to a single lexical unit’ and that it means everything that God created, that is, the universe. They then quote Mark 13:31 as an example, using ‘heaven and earth’ in their translation of it. However, they go on to say that there ‘may be certain complications involved in rendering ho ouranos kai he ge as ‘heaven and earth,’ since ‘heaven’ might be interpreted in some languages as referring only to the dwelling place of God himself. The referents in this passage are ‘the sky and the earth,’ in other words, all of physical existence, but not the dwelling place of God, for the latter would not be included in what is destined to pass away.’ In my opinion, English itself is one of the languages where the word ‘heaven’ will be interpreted as referring only to the dwelling place of God himself, and translations into English should not use ‘heaven’ in these passages. It is probably because these passages are so very familiar that translators do not realize the meaning they are giving their readers when they use the expression ‘heaven and earth’ here. In modern English we might talk about a rocket ‘soaring into the heavens,’ but we would certainly not describe it as ‘soaring into heaven,’ because ‘heaven’ is not another way of referring to the sky or to outer space.
“In fact, it is surely important in all languages to have some way of distinguishing the concept of ‘sky’ from the concept of ‘dwelling place of God.’ In these passages translators should never use a term meaning ‘the dwelling place of God.’ It may not be necessary to use a term meaning ‘sky’ either, if there is some other expression in the language which gives the correct meaning of ‘everything that has been created’ or ‘the universe.’ There are of course places in the New Testament where Heaven, as the place where God lives, is contrasted with the earth. In these passages, translators should be careful to give the correct meaning. A good example of this is in the Lord’s Prayer, in Matt 6:10: ‘Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.’ Similarly, 1 Cor 15:47 says that ‘the first man [a reference to Adam] was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.’ Passages like these are referring to Heaven, not to the sky. Other NT passages where heaven refers to God’s dwelling place, in contrast with earth, are Matt 5:34-35, 16:19, 18:18, Acts 7:49, James 5:12, and Rev 5:3.
“Sometimes in the New Testament, the word ‘heaven’ is used because of the Jewish reluctance to use the name of God. ‘Heaven’ in these cases is used in place of ‘God’ and refers to God himself. This is the case in the many references in Matthew to ‘the kingdom of heaven’ where other gospels have ‘the kingdom of God’ (e.g., compare Matt 4:17 with its parallels in Mark 1:15 and Luke 10:9). It is also most likely the case in references like Matt 16:1, Luke 20:4, 5, John 3:27, and even perhaps Col 1:5.
“There are some places, such as Matt 11:25, where God is called ‘Lord of heaven and earth.’ Since God is of course the Lord of Heaven as well as of the universe, it may not matter so much which interpretation is given in these passages (others are Luke 10:21 and Acts 17:24). Nevertheless, the intended meaning here is likely to be ‘the universe.’ This is because this expression in Greek, as Louw and Nida say, is a set expression referring to everything that has been created. Acts 17:24 in fact combines the idea of the creation of the universe with the idea of God as Master or Lord of the universe. (…)
“Old Testament background The use of ‘heaven and earth’ in the New Testament is very similar to what we find in the Old Testament, because it is largely based on the Old Testament.
“The Old Testament begins with the story of creation, which is presented as the creation of the heavens and the earth, with lights to shine in the heavens and give light to the earth. Birds are created to live in the heavens, animals to live on earth, and fish to live in the sea (Gen 1:1-2:4).
“As we can see from the way the creation story is told, it is meant to be understood as the creation of the universe. Although in English the regions above the earth have traditionally been called ‘the heavens’ in the story of creation, they cannot be called ‘Heaven,’ in the sense of the place where God dwells. In terms of modern English, it would probably be better to say ‘the sky and the earth’ or ‘the earth and the sky.’ The story of creation then becomes an important theme throughout the Old Testament. (…)
“In most passages, whether in the Old Testament or the New Testament, when ‘heaven and earth’ or ‘the heavens and the earth’ are mentioned, the meaning is the created universe. It is not a reference to Heaven, as the dwelling place of God. In English, translators have not been careful to keep this distinction clear, and this is probably true in many other languages as well. However, as we have seen, this can lead to real confusion for ordinary Bible readers. It is better if translators find ways to make the meaning clear in these passages. ‘Heaven’ should be mentioned only in passages which clearly mean the dwelling place of God. In other passages, an expression should be used which means only ‘sky.’ Or else, the whole expression ‘heaven and earth’ can be translated in a way to show that the whole universe is meant.”
Other languages that have a semantic distinction similar to English include (click or tap here to see more):
Mossi: saase — “sky”; nyingeri — “the up above”(source for Loma and Mossi: Bratcher/Nida)
Roviana: mamaṉa — “sly”; maṉauru — “heaven” (an old word, meaning “empty, open space of the sky”) (source: Carl Gross)
Kayaw: mô̄la or “canopy-under”/mô̄khû̄la or “canopy-above-under” — “sky” (atmosphere where there is just air); mô̄khû̄ or “canopy-on/above” — “heaven” (invisible abode of God and angels)
Mairasi: Sinyavi — an indigenous term that is used for both “sky” and heaven”; Surga — loanword from Sanskrit via Indonesian referring to “heaven” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
Kupsabiny: “up” for “sky” vs. “God’s Homestead” for “heaven” (source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
In some languages, such as Yagaria, a term that was originally used as “sky” (gokudana) was adopted by the Christian community as “heaven.” This resulted in a language shift so that now all communities uses “empty space / air” (galogina or hakalogina) as “sky” and gokudana is exclusively used for the Christian concept of heaven. (Source: Renck 1990, p. 133)
Many languages follow the original biblical languages in not making that distinction, such as (click or tap here to see more):
Cherokee: galaladi (ᎦᎸᎳᏗ) or “up” — Bender / Belt (2025, p. 23) note that there is a related term — galvlohi (ᎦᎸᎶᎯ) — that is used “for the upperworld of Cherokee cosmology, [but] was not used, possibly to communicate a sharp distinction.
In some languages, such as Wandala, the vocabulary for terms for either “heaven” or “sky” is much richer than just to include those two distinction. While zhegela, the term that is specifically used for the physical sky was only used in early translations of the New Testament for “sky,” other terms such as samaya (used for both “sky” and “heaven” — employed for instance in Matthew 10:32f.), zlanna (specifically used for the perfect abode of God and the goal of the faithful, as in Matthew 8:11), kwárá (a locational term used to speak of a chief’s rule [lit., “voice”] such as Matthew 3:2), or sleksire (“chieftaincy,” “kingship,” or “royalty” [originally from slekse “chief”] and used where there are no locational overtones, such as in Matthew 16:28) are used. (Source: Mona Perrin in Notes on Translation 1/1999, p. 51ff.)
Under the auspices of the Dhama Mate Swe Association , a new Burmese translation of the New Testament was published in 2024 which uses terminology that attempts to overcome “insurmountable barriers to the Buddhist world.” One term that this version uses is ရွှေမြို့တော် (shway myahoettaw) or “Golden City” for “heaven,” referring it to the golden city described in Revelation 21 but at the same time using a Buddhist term for a desired destination that does not have the Buddhist connotation of ကောင်း ကင် (kaungg kain) as being the Trāyastriṃśa (တာဝတိံသာ) heaven, home of Śakra/Indra. This Burmese translation formed the basis of translations of parts of the New Testament into other languages spoken in Burma, including Sumtu Chin, Ekai Chin, Songlai Chin, Danau, Kadu, Kanan, Khün, Lahta Karen, Rakhine, Marma (Northern Rakhine), Riang Lai, Samtao, Shwe Palaung, Tai Laing, Taungyo, Intha, Danu, Tavoyan (Dawei), and Chak (Thet). (Source: Jay Pratt)
The English translation by Sarah Ruden (2021) uses “sky” throughout. Ruden explains (p. li): “The Greek word ouranos refers evenhandedly to the physical sky and the place—often pictured as a royal court — where supreme divinity resides. ‘Sky’ seems generally better, first of all in avoiding the wackier modern imagery that comes with the English ‘heaven.’ And even when a supernatural realm is meant, ‘sky’ will often do, because the divine realm was thought to be located there, in addition to the weather and the heavenly bodies, whereas ‘heaven’ to us is fundamentally a religious term, and the ancients did not tend to separate linguistic domains in this way. I have retained the plural ‘skies’ where I see it in the Greek, because it is a Hebraism familiar in English translations of scripture and (I hope) not too archaic or jarring.”
1:1 A very, very long time ago, God created the heavens and the earth.
1:2 The earth was not yet formed and contained nothing, it was completely void. Water flowed endlessly and the entire earth was completely dark. God looked over all this. The Spirit of God, [like a bird], hovered over the water.
1:3 God spoke, saying, “Let there be light.” And the darkness became light.
1:4 God looked at the darkness and the light and saw that it was good.
1:5 God called the light ‘Day’ and the darkness ‘Night.’ Evening passed and morning came and that was day one.
1:6 Then God said, “Let there be a great dome to separate the waters above from the waters below.”
1:7 So God made a great dome to keep the waters above separate from the waters below.
1:8 God called the dome above ‘Heaven.’ Evening passed and morning came and that was day two.
1:9 God said, “Let there be dry land.” And the water gathered and dry land appeared.
1:10 God called the dry land ‘earth’ and the waters He called ‘seas.’ God looked at the earth and seas and saw that it was good.
1:11 God said “Let the earth produce plants of every kind. Let the earth grow grass, plants that make grain, and fruit trees. The fruit trees will make fruit with seeds in it. Let these plants grow on the earth.”
1:12 And it happened; the earth produced plants of all different kinds. Grass sprang up abundantly across the land, stalks with grains of all types [corn, rice, wheat, oat], trees of all varieties sprang up yielding fruits of all different kinds [orange, mango, banana, plums, guavas, guinep] everywhere [tomatoes, pineapple, strawberries, watermelon] [of all different sizes and shapes]. These plants sprang over all across the land, reproducing themselves through seeds. God looked over this and saw that it was good.
1:13 Evening passed and morning came and that was day three.
1:14 God spoke to the heavens, “Let there be lights in the sky to separate the day from the night. These lights will indicate the seasons, days and years.
1:15 The lights from heaven will give light to the earth.”
1:16 God made two great lights: the greater [brighter] light to rule the day, and the lesser [dimmed] light to rule the night, along with the stars.
1:17 God placed these lights in the sky to give light to the earth.
1:18 The greater [brighter] light ruled over the day and the lesser [dimmed] light ruled over the night and separated light and darkness. God looked at this and saw that it was good.
1:19 Evening passed and morning came and that was day four.
1:20 God spoke to the waters below and the heavens above, “Let the seas be filled with living creatures and let birds fly above in the heavens.”
1:21 God created huge sea creatures and many different animals swarmed the waters [shrimp, lobster, octopus, turtles, crocodile, whales] the sky was filled with different winged animals of its own kind [great and small- dove, crow, eagle, parrot, hummingbird]. God looked at this and saw that it was good.
1:22 God looked at the heavens and the earth and blessed them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the seas, let the birds multiply across the earth.”
1:23 Evening passed and morning came and that was day five.
1:24 God spoke to the earth “Let there be living creatures of different kinds: farm animals [cows, sheep, goat], crawling insects [bugs, worms, snakes], and wild animals of different kind [lion, leopard, elephant, ostrich, kangaroo, alligator]
1:25 So God created all these different types of animals. God looked at this and saw that it was good.
1:26 Then God thought of creating man [human]. Why? To be stewards [responsible] for the earth. To take care of birds in the sky, the animals in the sea and the creatures all over the earth.
1:27 God created man and woman in His own image and likeness.
1:28 God blessed them saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth. Let man and woman rule over the earth, over the fishes in the sea and the birds in the sky, and the animals on the land. Be stewards of the earth.”
1:29 God said to the man and the woman, “Look at all the plants and trees, I give you all the plants that bear fruits and grains to eat freely.
1:30 All green grass, grains and fruit trees I give to all the animals, every bird and crawling insect, to eat from freely. Every plant is theirs because they have the breath of life which I have given them.” And they all went ahead and ate freely.
1:31 God looked at all He created and saw that it was good. Evening passed and morning came and that was day six.
Back-translation by Amakedia Wallen, coordinated by Tashi Widmer
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