Note 44 — Chapter VII

I am indebted to an excellent Hebrew scholar for the following:

Note. The words תהו ובהו Theoo and Beoo, (Genesis, chapter 1, verse 2,) which has been rendered by the translators of our bible, "Without form and void," might perhaps, with equal propriety, have been translated "without form and hollow."

1. Theoo, the root, agreeably to the Hebrew grammar, is found as a noun תה or תהה The or Thee, and, is rendered confusion, loose, unconnected, without form, order, or the like; and so well understood.

2. Be-oo, the root, is, according to the same rule, found in בה—Be, (Bethhey) hollow; it occurs not only in this form but—

1. As a noun בהו Beoo—Hollow, empty, having nothing in it but air, filled only vacuo aere, with empty air, as Lucan calls it, Lib. 5, line 94.

2. As a noun fem: in reg: בת‏‎, בת עין Bet, Bethoin, the apparent hollow, or pupil of the eye, &c. Comp. בבת Bebath, under, בב Beb.

3. As a noun fem: תבה Thebe in Reg: תבת Thebeth, an ark, a hollow vessel, under 2d head of בב Beb. occurs not as a verb in kab, but

1. As a participial noun, or participle in Nipth נבוב Neboob, hollow, made hollow, &c.

2. It is applied spiritually, hollow, empty, vain.

3. To the sight, or pupil of the eye; that part of the eye which appears hollow, and admits the light. See Parkhurst's Hebrew Lexicon.

Had the learned translators of our bible possessed a knowledge of the theory of concentric spheres, it is probable they would have given the English reader the most correct meaning of the words, תהו ובהו "without form and hollow," or "shapeless and hollow."