Hebrew word · H8415

תְּהוֹם

tehom

abyss

The deep: the great subterranean and primeval waters, the cosmic ocean, the deep sea; plural 'the depths'. It usually has no article, so it behaves almost like a proper name.

Appears 36 times in 35 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) deep, depths, deep places, abyss, the deep, sea

1a) deep (of subterranean waters)

1b) deep, sea, abysses (of sea)

1c) primeval ocean, deep

1d) deep, depth (of river)

1e) abyss, the grave

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Genesis 1:2

Range of meaning

The deep: the great subterranean and primeval waters, the cosmic ocean, the deep sea; plural 'the depths'. It usually has no article, so it behaves almost like a proper name.

Against the English

'The deep' is adequate, but modern readers may hear only 'deep ocean water'. For an Israelite it was the boundless water-mass that once covered everything, still lay beneath the earth, and could burst out (the Flood).

Used elsewhere in the period

Gen 7:11: 'the fountains of the great tehom burst open'. Gen 49:25 and Deut 33:13: 'the blessings of tehom lying beneath'. Ps 104:6: 'you covered it with tehom as with a garment'. Prov 8:27: God 'drew a circle on the face of tehom'. Ex 15:8; Isa 51:10. The Greek translation uses abyssos. Cognates are Ugaritic thm and Akkadian tiāmtu, 'sea', which as a name is Tiamat, the sea-goddess split by Marduk in the Babylonian Enuma Elish. Most Semitists today (e.g. Tsumura, following Heidel) hold that tehom comes from a shared Semitic word for 'deep sea' and was not borrowed from the name Tiamat.

From the study of Proverbs 8:24

Range of meaning

The primeval ocean that covered everything before ordered creation (Gen 1:2); the deep waters under the earth that feed springs and rivers (Gen 49:25, Deut 8:7, 33:13 'the deep that crouches beneath'); the depths of the sea (Exod 15:5, 8; Jonah 2:5). The plural tends to mean the whole watery depths, or the deeps as a poetic intensive.

Against the English

'Depths' (KJV, ESV, WEB) can sound like just 'deep places'. BSB and NIV 'watery depths' restore the water. NLT 'oceans' gets the water but loses the sense of a primeval, under-the-earth deep.

How it drifted

English 'depths' is abstract and spatial; the Hebrew word is a named cosmic feature, the first and oldest element of the created world.

Used elsewhere in the period

Genesis 1:2; 7:11; 49:25; Psalm 104:6. The word is related (by language family, not necessarily by borrowing) to Akkadian tiamtum 'sea' and the name Tiamat, the sea-goddess split in two in the Babylonian creation epic Enuma Elish. In the Septuagint it becomes abyssos, 'bottomless', the source of English 'abyss'. In Proverbs 8 there is no battle with the deep at all: it is simply something made later than Wisdom.

From the study of Proverbs 8:27

Range of meaning

The deep; the great ancient body of water around and under the land (Genesis 1:2; 7:11; 49:25; Psalm 104:6); the depths of the sea (Exodus 15:5, 8; Psalm 107:26); the waters 'below' that feed springs (Deuteronomy 8:7). It usually appears without 'the', almost like a proper name.

Against the English

'The deep' (BSB, ESV, NASB, WEB, NIV) is accurate. KJV 'the depth' sounds to modern ears like a measurement rather than a place. NLT 'the oceans' is clear but loses the sense of the primeval, cosmic water.

How it drifted

Modern readers hear 'the deep' as simply 'the sea'. Tehom carries the sense of the dark, formless water of the beginning, which only God can set limits on.

Used elsewhere in the period

It shares a root with Ugaritic thmt and Akkadian tiāmtu ('sea'), and with Tiamat, the sea-goddess whom Marduk kills and splits in the Babylonian creation epic Enuma Elish. Most scholars, for example D. T. Tsumura, think Hebrew tehom is a word inherited from the common Semitic language family, not borrowed from the myth. The cultural echo is still real. In Proverbs 8:28 the 'fountains of tehom' are made firm, and in 3:20 'the depths [tehomot] broke open' by God's knowledge.

Where it appears

Genesis · 4

  1. Genesis 1:2 תְה֑וֹם [the] deep

    Now the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

    Here: The vast primeval ocean that covers everything before God separates the waters and raises dry land. It has no 'the' in front of it, so it reads almost like a name: 'Deep'. The main pause in the verse (the athnach accent) falls on this word.

  2. Genesis 7:11 תְּה֣וֹם [the] deep

    In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month, all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.

    Here: The primeval waters of Genesis 1:2 ('darkness was over the face of the deep'), pictured as lying beneath the earth. Like a proper name, it has no 'the'. Creation's original waters are coming back.

  3. Genesis 8:2 תְּה֔וֹם [the] deep

    The springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens were closed, and the rain from the sky was restrained.

  4. Genesis 49:25 תְּה֖וֹם [the] deep

    by the God of your father who helps you, and by the Almighty who blesses you, with blessings of the heavens above, with blessings of the depths below, with blessings of the breasts and womb.

    Here: The great body of water believed to lie under the earth and feed springs, wells and rivers. It is the same word used for the dark waters of Genesis 1:2, but here those waters are a source of life for the farmer, not a threat.

Exodus · 2

  1. Exodus 15:5 תְּהֹמֹ֖ת [the] deeps

    The depths have covered them; they sank there like a stone.

  2. Exodus 15:8 תְהֹמֹ֖ת [the] deeps

    At the blast of Your nostrils the waters piled up; like a wall the currents stood firm; the depths congealed in the heart of the sea.

    Here: The great deep: the primeval waters of Genesis 1:2 and the deep sources under the earth (Genesis 7:11). It is plural here for the vast mass of it. The deepest and most chaotic water of all goes solid.

Deuteronomy · 2

  1. Deuteronomy 8:7 וּתְהֹמֹ֔ת and deeps

    For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks and fountains and springs that flow through the valleys and hills;

    Here: 'And deeps': the great body of water believed to lie under the earth, which feeds the springs. It is the same word as the 'deep' of Genesis 1:2, but here it is a source of blessing, not chaos.

  2. Deuteronomy 33:13 וּמִתְּה֖וֹם and from [the] deep

    Concerning Joseph he said: “May his land be blessed by the LORD with the precious dew from heaven above and the deep waters that lie beneath,

    Here: The great body of water believed to lie beneath the earth, which feeds springs and wells. It is the lower source of blessing, set against the sky above.

Job · 4

  1. Job 28:14 תְּה֣וֹם [the] deep

    The ocean depths say, ‘It is not in me,’ while the sea declares, ‘It is not with me.’

  2. Job 38:16 תְּ֝ה֗וֹם [the] deep

    Have you journeyed to the vents of the sea or walked in the trenches of the deep?

  3. Job 38:30 תְ֝ה֗וֹם [the] deep

    when the waters become hard as stone and the surface of the deep is frozen?

  4. Job 41:32 תְּה֣וֹם [the] deep

    He leaves a glistening wake behind him; one would think the deep had white hair!

Psalms · 12

  1. Psalm 33:7 תְּהוֹמֽוֹת׃ [the] deeps

    He piles up the waters of the sea; He puts the depths into storehouses.

    Here: 'Deeps', plural: the primeval waters of Gen 1:2 and the 'fountains of the great deep' of the Flood (Gen 7:11), thought to lie below the earth. The ultimate image of untamed depth, here put in storage.

  2. Psalm 36:6 תְּה֣וֹם [are] [the] deep

    Your righteousness is like the highest mountains; Your judgments are like the deepest sea. O LORD, You preserve man and beast.

    Here: The vast waters under the earth, the same 'deep' of Genesis 1:2 and of the Flood. There is no 'like' here. The Hebrew says straight out that God's judgments *are* a great deep.

  3. Psalm 42:7 תְּהֽוֹם־ תְּה֣וֹם deep

    Deep calls to deep in the roar of Your waterfalls; all Your breakers and waves have rolled over me.

    Here: The great flood-waters: the ocean below and around the world, the 'deep' of Genesis 1:2 and of the Flood. It has no article, so it sounds almost like a name. It is not 'depth' in the sense of profundity.

  4. Psalm 71:20 וּֽמִתְּהֹמ֥וֹת and from [the] depths of

    Though You have shown me many troubles and misfortunes, You will revive me once again. Even from the depths of the earth You will bring me back up.

    Here: 'And from the deeps of…' The plural word for the watery abyss under the world. It calls up the realm of death and chaos below the land of the living.

  5. Psalm 77:16 תְהֹמֽוֹת׃ [the] deeps

    The waters saw You, O God; the waters saw You and swirled; even the depths were shaken.

    Here: The primeval deep: the waters under the earth, the 'deep' of Genesis 1:2. It is plural here, as in the Song of the Sea (Exod 15:5, 8). It is held back to the very last word of the verse, so it lands with force.

  6. Psalm 78:15 כִּתְהֹמ֥וֹת like deeps

    He split the rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink as abundant as the seas.

    Here: "Like the deeps": the great body of water Israel pictured under the earth, which fed springs and was the deep of Genesis 1:2. The drink was as if God had tapped that store of water itself.

  7. Psalm 104:6 תְּ֭הוֹם [the] deep

    You covered it with the deep like a garment; the waters stood above the mountains.

  8. Psalm 106:9 בַּ֝תְּהֹמ֗וֹת in the deeps

    He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up; He led them through the depths as through a desert.

    Here: 'Through the deeps,' plural. This is the word for the deep waters of Genesis 1:2, the dark, bottomless water of chaos. Israel walks on the floor of what should be the most impassable place on earth.

  9. Psalm 107:26 תְהוֹמ֑וֹת [the] deeps

    They mounted up to the heavens, then sunk to the depths; their courage melted in their anguish.

  10. Psalm 135:6 תְּהוֹמֽוֹת׃ [the] deeps

    The LORD does all that pleases Him in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and in all their depths.

    Here: The great deep: the waters thought to lie beneath the earth and around the world, the same 'deep' as Genesis 1:2 and the 'fountains of the great deep' in the flood (Gen 7:11). It is the lowest and most remote realm, and he acts there too.

  11. Psalm 148:7 תְּהֹמֽוֹת׃ [the] deeps

    Praise the LORD from the earth, all great sea creatures and ocean depths,

Proverbs · 4

  1. Proverbs 3:20 תְּהוֹמ֣וֹת [the] depths

    By His knowledge the watery depths were broken open, and the clouds dripped with dew.

  2. Proverbs 8:24 תְּהֹמ֥וֹת [were] [the] deeps

    When there were no watery depths, I was brought forth, when no springs were overflowing with water.

    Here: Plural of tehom, the vast waters of the first creation (Genesis 1:2) and the subterranean ocean thought to feed springs and seas. Wisdom says she existed before even these oldest waters.

  3. Proverbs 8:27 תְהֽוֹם׃ [the] deep

    I was there when He established the heavens, when He inscribed a circle on the face of the deep,

    Here: The vast ancient body of water that, in Israel's picture of the world, lay around and beneath the dry land. Like Genesis 1:2 it has no 'the', almost as if it were a name: 'Deep'. It is the raw, unbounded water that creation sets limits on.

  4. Proverbs 8:28 תְּהוֹם׃ [the] deep

    when He established the clouds above, when the fountains of the deep gushed forth,

Isaiah · 2

  1. Isaiah 51:10 תְּה֣וֹם [the] deep

    Was it not You who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made a road in the depths of the sea for the redeemed to cross over?

    Here: The deep waters of Genesis 1:2 that God ordered at creation, and that broke loose in the Flood. It is not just 'deep water'. The phrase pulls the Exodus crossing into the scale of creation.

  2. Isaiah 63:13 בַּתְּהֹמ֑וֹת in the deeps

    who led them through the depths like a horse in the wilderness, so that they did not stumble?

Ezekiel · 3

  1. Ezekiel 26:19 תְּה֔וֹם [the] deep

    For this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘When I make you a desolate city like other deserted cities, and when I raise up the deep against you so that the mighty waters cover you,

  2. Ezekiel 31:4 תְּה֖וֹם [the] deep

    The waters made it grow; the deep springs made it tall, directing their streams all around its base and sending their channels to all the trees of the field.

  3. Ezekiel 31:15 תְּה֔וֹם [the] deep

    This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘On the day it was brought down to Sheol, I caused mourning. I covered the deep because of it; I held back its rivers; its abundant waters were restrained. I made Lebanon mourn for it, and all the trees of the field fainted because of it.

Amos · 1

  1. Amos 7:4 תְּה֣וֹם [the] deep

    This is what the Lord GOD showed me: The Lord GOD was calling for judgment by fire. It consumed the great deep and devoured the land.

    Here: The vast body of water believed to lie beneath the earth and feed every spring and well. Fire that eats this has struck the source of all fresh water.

Jonah · 1

  1. Jonah 2:5 תְּה֖וֹם [the] deep

    The waters engulfed me to take my life; the watery depths closed around me; the seaweed wrapped around my head.

Habakkuk · 1

  1. Habakkuk 3:10 תְּהוֹם֙ [the] deep

    The mountains saw You and quaked; torrents of water swept by. The deep roared with its voice and lifted its hands on high.

    Here: 'The Deep.' It has no article, so it reads almost like a name. This is the great cosmic water under the earth from Gen 1:2 and the Flood (Gen 7:11), which Israel's neighbours told stories about as a chaos power. Here it cries out like a living creature.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.