H8414 — תֹּהוּ (tohu)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H8414
Original: תֹּהוּ
Transliteration: tôhûw
Pronunciation: to
Part of Speech: masculine noun
Occurrences: 19 unique verses / 20 tokens in 7 OT books
First Occurrence: Gen 1:2 — "the earth was without form"
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

-hoo; from an unused root meaning to lie waste; a desolation (of surface), i.e. desert; figuratively, a worthless thing; adverbially, in vain:—confusion, empty place, without form, nothing, (thing of) nought, vain, vanity, waste, wilderness.

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Verses	%
in vain	2	10.5%
of confusion	2	10.5%
vanity	2	10.5%
without form	2	10.5%
wilderness / waste	3	15.8%
nothing / nought	3	15.8%
other phrase variants	5	26.3%

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Isaiah	11	0.9
Job	3	0.3
Genesis	1	0.1
Jeremiah	1	0.1
Deuteronomy	1	0.1
1 Samuel	1	0.1
Psalms	1	0.0

Isaiah supplies over half the occurrences, especially with "nothing/vanity/confusion" language.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Formless or Unordered Condition¶

Gen 1:2 — "the earth was without form, and void"
Jer 4:23 — "the earth, and, lo, [it was] without form, and void"

2. Wilderness or Trackless Waste¶

Deut 32:10 — "in the waste howling wilderness"
Job 12:24 — "causeth them to wander in a wilderness [where there is] no way"
Psalm 107:40 — "wander in the wilderness, [where there is] no way"

3. Emptiness / Nothingness¶

Job 26:7 — "He stretcheth out the north over the empty place"
Isa 40:17 — "less than nothing, and vanity"
Isa 40:23 — "he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity"

4. Vanity or Worthlessness¶

1 Sam 12:21 — "vain [things], which cannot profit nor deliver"
Isa 41:29 — "they [are] all vanity; their works [are] nothing"
Isa 44:9 — image-makers "are all of them vanity"

5. Futility / In Vain¶

Isa 45:18 — "he created it not in vain"
Isa 45:19 — "I said not... Seek ye me in vain"
Isa 49:4 — "I have laboured in vain"

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
אֶרֶץ (erets)	H776	8x	earth/land in empty or waste condition
אַיִן (ayin)	H369	5x	nothing/nonexistence field
בֹּהוּ (bohu)	H922	3x	fixed "without form and void" pair
דֶּרֶךְ (derek)	H1870	3x	wayless wilderness/wandering
נָטָה (natah)	H5186	3x	stretching/measuring over emptiness
אָוֶן (aven)	H205	2x	vanity/iniquity/worthlessness overlap
אֶפֶס (ephes)	H657	2x	nothing/nonentity overlap
חֹשֶׁךְ (choshek)	H2822	2x	darkness paired with formlessness

Synonyms and Semantic Neighbors¶

H922 בֹּהוּ (bohu) — void/emptiness; paired with tohu in all three of its occurrences.
H4057 מִדְבָּר (midbar) — wilderness.
H205 אָוֶן (aven) — vanity/worthlessness/iniquity.
H369 אַיִן (ayin) — nothing/nonexistence.
H657 אֶפֶס (ephes) — end/nothing.
H1892 הֶבֶל (hebel) — vanity/vapor.
H7385 רִיק (riq) — emptiness/worthless thing.
H7723 שָׁוְא (shav) — vanity/falsehood.

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
הֶבֶל (hebel)	H1892	vanity / in vain	hebel is vapor/breath-like futility; tohu is waste, emptiness, or unformed desolation
שָׁוְא (shav)	H7723	vain / vanity	shav often marks falsehood or emptiness of speech; tohu marks empty/waste condition
רִיק (riq)	H7385	in vain / vanity	riq emphasizes emptiness or lack of content
אָוֶן (aven)	H205	vanity	aven can carry moral trouble/iniquity; tohu is broader waste/futility

Semantic Domain¶

[002002002006] Non-Exist — nonexistence / nothingness neighbors.
[002001002030] Worthless — worthless or profitless things.

LXX Mapping¶

Greek Equivalent	Co-occurrences	PMI	Score	Notes
μάταιος (mataios) G3152	4	6.13	9.87	Vanity/futility rendering
πλανάω (planao) G4105	3	5.50	7.63	Wandering/erring overlap
γῆ (ge) G1093	8	2.03	4.47	Earth/land context, not a lexical equivalent
ποιέω (poieo) G4160	5	1.36	2.44	Contextual co-occurrence