Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Lee R. Martin" <lmartin AT vol.com>]

>Dear Lee,
>Considering that God's first actions, after "turning on the light", are to
separate
>day from night, water from land, upper waters from lower waters, I would
opt for
>"chaos" as the meaning of "tohu wavohu"; i.e., everything was chaotic and
confused,
>and God put "alles in Ordnung".

Dear Jonathan,
Your point is well-taken, but I do not like the word "chaos" here because in
current English usage it implies activity.  Yes, the created earth was
"non-ordered".  I get the picture of a big dark rock, covered with water.
That doesn't comply with my understanding of the English word "chaos."
"Chaos" is what happens in a riot.  Searching for translation equivalents
never satisfies everyone, does it?

Lee R. Martin