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 (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:

See also formless void.

complete verse (Jeremiah 4:23)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 4:23:

  • Kupsabiny: “As I looked down, there was nothing that would benefit us,
    as I looked up to heaven it was completely dark!” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “I saw the earth and it has no form and now clear. I also saw the heavens and it has no light.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Jeremiah 4:23

Looked on the earth is more naturally expressed in Good News Translation as “looked at the earth.” In this sentence, and lo can more naturally be rendered as “and I saw.”

Waste and void (Good News Translation “a barren waste”) is taken directly from Gen 1.2a (Revised Standard Version “without form and void”). The picture is that of land which is totally unproductive, and we may translate “barren and desolate.”

The imagery of the chaotic state of the universe before God created light continues with the statement that the heavens (Good News Translation “the sky”) … had no light.

The verb looked in the first line serves as the verb in the second line as well. In many languages it will be clearer if it is repeated, as in “and I looked at the sky, and saw there was no light there [or, there were no lights there].”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Jeremiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2003. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .