tohu wa-bohu

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 (NRSVue 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:

See also formless void.

crow / raven

There is no disagreement about the meaning of these words. The Hebrew ‘orev and the two Greek words are general names given to any member of the crow family. This includes any of the three types of raven, two types of crow, and the rook, which are found in Israel. Of these the Brown-necked Raven Corvus ruficolllis, the Fan-tailed Raven Corvus rhipidurus, and the Hooded Crow Corvus corone cornix are common residents. The Common Raven Corvus corax is resident but not as common in modern Israel as it must have been in ancient times. The remaining types of crow found in Israel are visiting migrants that do not stay long.

Crows and ravens are large black birds with thick strong beaks, and fairly short legs. They are highly intelligent and seem to enjoy flying. Often if there is a good thermal current of air, they will soar around in circles, riding the thermal and calling. Some varieties will congregate in great numbers in these thermals and circle around together. On sunny windy days they will sometimes spread their wings and ride the wind, not going anywhere, sometimes even anchoring themselves by hanging on to the end of a branch with one foot. They eat almost anything, including grain, fruit, insects, lizards, frogs, eggs, nestlings, and the meat of dead animals. When the raven released by Noah failed to return to the ark, this was a sign that some land had emerged from the flood and that the raven had found food, probably the carcasses of the people and creatures drowned in the flood.

Crows and ravens build their nests out of twigs and grass in the forks of trees or on ledges on cliffs. The nests are quite large and untidy. Ravens tend to keep to the rocky hills and are found near Galilee, the Judean Desert, the Dead Sea coast, the Negev, and the escarpment bordering the Aravah Rift Valley.

Ravens are unclean birds and are associated in biblical culture with death. They are thus symbols of the devastation resulting from war. They are also singled out as fed by God (Job 38:41). Even though they are unclean and have some horrible habits, they are not forgotten by God. Thus they are also a symbol of God’s kindness. Finally, for the inhabitants of Israel there was nothing blacker than the raven, which in fact is usually glossy as well as black.

Crows and ravens are very widespread around the world. Some types are not all black, but black and white, black and gray, or black and brown. In all there over one hundred species distributed throughout the world. They are usually found in mountainous areas or near towns, but seldom in dense rain forest. In Africa south of the Sahara, the Pied Crow Corvus albus is the most common, but in the mountains of eastern and southern Africa the larger White-necked Raven Corvus albicollis is also found. A relative of the Middle Eastern hooded crow, called the Australian Raven Corvus coronoides, is found in most parts of Australia. The House Crow Corvus splendens, which was originally indigenous to India, has now spread to countries as far away as Australia and South Africa.

In most parts of the world, therefore, except in those rain forest areas that have no towns, there will be local crows or ravens.

Source: All Creatures Great and Small: Living things in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators)

In Lingala it is translated in all cases as “pied crow” (see here ) because ravens are unknown in the area where Lingala speakers traditionally live. (Source: Sigurd F. Westberg in The Bible Translator 1956, p. 117ff. )

jackdaw

There is no consensus among scholars about the bird this word refers to. The word occurs five times, and from the contexts it can be stated with some certainty that

a. it is an unclean bird (that is, it is not a seed eater)
b. it is associated with the Judean Desert
c. it is associated with ruin

An additional feature, which has largely been overlooked, is that in four of the five verses the discourse structure indicates that it was paired in the biblical writers’ minds with the raven. This would indicate that this bird is probably a carrion eater or scavenger and possibly black.

These contexts would rule out the interpretation “pelican”. Psalm 102:6 could possibly be construed as referring to the great distress a pelican would suffer in the desert. However, this argument is weakened by the fact that it would be almost nonsensical in Isaiah 34:11 to indicate that Edom will become a place of hot springs and desolation by saying that it will be “a dwelling place of pelicans”. The White Pelican Pelecanus onocrotalus, which is the pelican seen most often in the land of Israel, lives in large rivers, lakes, lagoons, and oceans. They are passing migrants in Israel, staying only a few weeks in autumn. They stop briefly in the Huleh and Eilat areas, as they move from the Black Sea, the Danube Delta, and the Caspian Sea to Africa. No place in the whole of the Middle East could be called a “dwelling place of pelicans”. To do so would be to indicate that the place has become a wetland or full of suitable lakes well-stocked with fish.

Some sort of owl seems more likely, and most modern English translations follow Driver’s suggestion in this regard. New English Bible and Revised English Bible have “horned owl”. This is not a species of owl but a much broader classification referring to a family of owls that have prominent ear tufts. New International Version and New American Bible have an even more general term, “desert owl”. There is no such family or species of owl, and the phrase simply means an owl found in the desert.

However, another interesting suggestion has been the jackdaw. Besides fitting all of the contexts, it also makes a fitting pairing with the raven in Leviticus 11:18; Deuteronomy 14:17; Isaiah 34:11; and Zephaniah 2:14. In the latter two passages the birds mentioned would be the jackdaw, two types of owl, and the raven, making a typical Hebrew correspondence between opening and closing items, and between the two middle items. In modern Hebrew the jackdaw is called qa’ak, which might be a slightly modified form of the biblical qa’ath. All scholars are agreed that the name relates to the sound the bird makes, and this would certainly be a good representation of the sound made by the jackdaw.

Since the pelican is unlikely as the proper translation of this name, it will not be described here. Descriptions of owls indigenous to Israel can be found under owl.

The Jackdaw Corvus monedula is a member of the same family as ravens and crows but is smaller. It is black all over.

This bird is a symbol of uncleanness, desolation, and possibly death.

Jackdaws are found in the Middle East, South Asia, and Europe. A word for a small type of crow would be the best choice in most other places. Even a phrase such as “small crows and big crows” could be used for jackdaws and ravens.

If an owl is accepted as the meaning of qa’ath then a general word for owl is a better choice than any one subspecies of owl. However, care should be taken not to introduce an association with witchcraft, since this was not the case in the original Hebrew.

Jackdaw, Wikimedia Commons

Source: All Creatures Great and Small: Living things in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators)

yanshuf / tawny owl

Owls are found worldwide except in the Antarctic and on some islands. They are active at night and are characterized by flat faces and short hooked beaks that they can open very wide. They swallow their prey whole and later regurgitate the undigested parts as small balls. They also have the ability to turn their heads more than 180 degrees.

There are two basic owl families, both of which are found in the land of Israel. One family is the Tytonidae, which are the Barn and Grass Owls. They have heart-shaped whitish faces, usually outlined by a dark line, and small dark eyes. The other family is the Strigidae, the typical owls. This family contains a large variety of species, all of which have large eyes that may vary in color from light brown through orange to yellow. This family includes the eared or horned owls, the fairly rare fishing owls, and owls that vary in size from the midget scops owl (less than 20 centimeters [8 inches]) through to the giant eagle owl (over 70 centimeters [28 inches]).

Eight species of owl are fairly common in the land of Israel. Most are very seldom seen by humans, but they are quite well known by their different and distinct calls. In biblical times the nights would have been much quieter than in most modern places, and the strange night sounds probably would have interested people, causing some speculation about what was making the sound. The different owls would thus probably have had different names even if people had never seen them. In fact it is unlikely that they would have been able to associate most of the calls with the owls that were seen.

As with most of the owls, there is no complete agreement among the versions. It would appear at first that “screech owl” has strong support as the translation of yanshuf. However, this is misleading. The next Hebrew name on the list of unclean birds in Leviticus 11:18 and Deuteronomy 13:16 is tinshemeth, which New International Version renders “white owl” and New American Bible “barn owl”. In fact both white owl and barn owl are simply alternate names for the screech owl, which these two versions have included earlier in the list. They have thus actually listed the same owl twice. Among Jewish scholars the translation of tinshemet as barn owl has a long history, and in modern Hebrew this is the name of the barn owl. Thus it seems best to translate yanshuf in some other way.

There are two likely candidates. For translators who have translated the word tachmas earlier in the list as “eared owl”, yanshuf can be translated as “tawny owl”. For those who decided to follow modern Hebrew usage and translate tachmas as “nightjar”, it would be good to translate yanshuf as “eared owl”, which also follows modern Hebrew usage.

The Tawny Owl Strix aluco is a fairly rare bird in Israel, but where it is present, its call is unmistakable. The male calls with a series of hoots “HOO-hoo-hoo, hoo-HOO-hoo”, and the female replies with a higher pitched single hoot “HOO”. Its eyes are outlined with pale circles, so that it looks as though it is wearing spectacles. As its name indicates, it is a mottled gray-brown color. It prefers wooded areas or orchards and roosts close to the trunk of a tree.

It is listed as an unclean bird.

Owls very similar to the tawny owl, which belongs to the same family as Wood Owls Strigidae, are found in many places in the world. In sub-Saharan Africa the Wood Owl Strix woodfordii is very similar to the tawny owl, while in Australasia the Boobook Owl Ninox novaseelandiae is a good equivalent. Elsewhere the word for a medium-sized wood owl, or a phrase meaning “tawny-colored owl” can be used.

Tawny owl, Wikimedia Commons

Source: All Creatures Great and Small: Living things in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators)

Translation commentary on Isaiah 34:11

The end of human habitation will allow wild animals and birds to occupy the land of Edom. This imagery is frequently found in poetic material, compare 13.21-22; 14.23; 23.13; 32.14; Psa 63.10; Jer 9.11; 10.22.

In verses 11-15 many animals and birds are named. Translators should consult ACGS for further information. What is important from the context is that these creatures are all associated with ruins and are among the unclean ones referred to in Lev 11.13-19. Translators should try to find equivalents. If an exact vocabulary is not available, they can use general terms such as “bird of prey” for hawk, “night bird” for owl, “fox” for “jackal,” “wild dog” for “hyena,” and so on. They should avoid using names of animals or birds that are typical for their own culture and that are not found in the Bible.

But the hawk and the porcupine shall possess it: Scavenger birds that are usually found only in uninhabited places will take over the land of Edom. The Hebrew word rendered hawk can refer to one of the varieties of owl (Revised English Bible “Horned owl”; New International Version and New American Bible “desert owl”). Hope recommends “jackdaw” (also New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), which is a bird not known to many. It is a black bird in the same family as ravens and crows, but is smaller. New Jerusalem Bible has “pelican,” but this is unlikely. Porcupine translates a Hebrew word that has also been rendered “bustard” (Revised English Bible), “screech owl” (New International Version), “hoot owl” (New American Bible), “raven,” and “hedgehog” (New Jerusalem Bible). It is most likely a type of owl here, not an animal, since it occurs in a list of birds. A raven is a large black bird with a strong beak and fairly short legs.

He shall stretch the line of confusion over it, and the plummet of chaos over its nobles: These two parallel lines describe further Yahweh’s treatment of Edom. Good News Translation and Revised English Bible make it explicit that the pronoun He refers to “The LORD” (similarly New International Version with “God”). Stretching a line and a plummet are activities of a builder for measuring and making sure walls are straight. For line and plummet, see the comments on 28.17, even though the Hebrew word for plummet is different there. Here it is literally “stones,” referring to a weight on a string, that is, a plumb line. In 28.17 these construction tools are used figuratively to describe acts of judgment, but here they are used to describe destruction. The line or “measuring line” (New International Version, Revised English Bible) is often stretched along a wall to ensure that it is horizontally straight, while a plummet or “plumb line” (New International Version) is suspended next to a wall to ensure it is vertically straight. Both the horizontal and the vertical dimensions are included to represent the whole land.

The Hebrew words for confusion (tohu) and chaos (bohu) also occur in Gen 1.2, where they are rendered “without form” and “void” respectively. It would be helpful to mention this link to Genesis in a footnote. However, Good News Translation makes it explicit in the text by saying “The LORD will make it a barren waste again, as it was before the creation,” but such a rendering goes beyond the limits of translation. Translators may need to modify the figurative language of these two lines to communicate the real meaning, as is done in the examples below. The line of confusion means a return to anarchy or chaos, while the plummet of chaos refers to a return to emptiness or desolation. We may say “Yahweh will reduce it to chaos and emptiness.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch keeps some of the figurative language with “The LORD measures the land with the measuring line and defines its borders, so that it always remains wild and uninhabitable” (similarly Bible en français courant).

Over its nobles renders the first Hebrew word of the next verse, and adds the preposition over. Few versions follow this arrangement. See the discussion on the next verse.

For the translation of this verse we offer the following examples:

• The jackdaw and the owl will possess it,
the wood owl and the raven will live in it.
Yahweh will reduce it to chaos,
and return it to emptiness.

• The jackdaw and the owl will take possession of it,
the tawny owl and the raven will live there.
Yahweh will measure it out for confusion [to be there],
and test it for desolation [to be there].

Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Sterk, Jan. A Handbook on Isaiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .