Tehom ( he, תְּהוֹם ''ṯəhôm'') is a
Biblical Hebrew
Biblical Hebrew (, or , ), also called Classical Hebrew, is an archaic form of the Hebrew language, a language in the Canaanite branch of Semitic languages spoken by the Israelites in the area known as the Land of Israel, roughly west of ...
word meaning "the deep". It is used to describe the primeval ocean and the post-creation waters of the earth. It derives from a Semitic root which denoted the sea as an unpersonified entity with mythological import.
Genesis
Tehom is mentioned in
Genesis
Genesis may refer to:
Bible
* Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind
* Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...
1:2, where it is translated as "deep":
The same word is used for the origin of
Noah's flood
The Genesis flood narrative (chapters 6–9 of the Book of Genesis) is the Hebrew version of the universal flood myth. It tells of God's decision to return the universe to its pre- creation state of watery chaos and remake it through the micro ...
in :
Gnosticism
Gnostics used
Genesis 1:2 to propose that the original
creator god
A creator deity or creator god (often called the Creator) is a deity responsible for the creation of the Earth, world, and universe in human religion and mythology. In monotheism, the single God is often also the creator. A number of monolatris ...
, called the "
Pléroma" or "
Bythós" (from the Greek, meaning "Deep") pre-existed
Elohim, and gave rise to such later divinities and spirits by way of
emanation Emanation may refer to:
* Emanation (chemistry), a dated name for the chemical element radon
* Emanation From Below, a concept in Slavic religion
* Emanation in the Eastern Orthodox Church, a belief found in Neoplatonism
*Emanation of the state, a l ...
s, progressively more distant and removed from the original form.
In
Mandaean cosmology
Mandaean cosmology is the Gnostic conception of the universe in the religion of Mandaeism.
Mandaean cosmology is strongly influenced by Jewish, Babylonian, Persian, Egyptian, Greek, Manichaean and other Near Eastern religions and philosophies.
E ...
, the
Sea of Suf
In Mandaean cosmology, the Sea of Suf (or Sea of Sup, myz, ࡉࡀࡌࡀ ࡖࡎࡅࡐ, translit=iama ḏ-sup, lit=Sea of the End) is a primordial sea in the World of Darkness. It is analogous to Tehom in the Book of Genesis
The Book of Genes ...
(or Sea of Sup) is a primordial sea in the
World of Darkness
''World of Darkness'' is a series of tabletop role-playing games, originally created by Mark Rein-Hagen for White Wolf Publishing. It began as an annual line of five games in 1991–1995, with '' Vampire: The Masquerade'', '' Werewolf: The Apoca ...
.
Kabbalah
Tehom is also mentioned as the first of seven "
Infernal Habitations" that correspond to the ten
Qliphoth
In the Zohar, Lurianic Kabbalah and Hermetic Qabalah, the ''qliphoth/qlippoth/qlifot'' or ''kelipot'' ( ''qəlīpōṯ'', originally Aramaic: ''qəlīpīn'', plural of ''qəlīpā''; literally "peels", "shells", or "husks"), are the represe ...
(literally "peels") of Jewish
Kabbalistic tradition, often in place of
Sheol
Sheol ( ; he, ''Šəʾōl'', Tiberian: ''Šŏʾōl'') in the Hebrew Bible is a place of still darkness which lies after death. Although not well defined in the Tanakh, Sheol in this view was a subterranean underworld where the souls of the ...
.
Sanchuniathon
Robert R. Stieglitz stated that
Ebla
Ebla ( Sumerian: ''eb₂-la'', ar, إبلا, modern: , Tell Mardikh) was one of the earliest kingdoms in Syria. Its remains constitute a tell located about southwest of Aleppo near the village of Mardikh. Ebla was an important center t ...
itic texts demonstrate the equation of the goddess Berouth in the mythology of
Sanchuniathon with Ugaritic thmt and Akkadian Tiâmat, via the name ''bʾrôt'' ("fountains").
See also
*
Abzu
The Abzu or Apsu ( Sumerian: ; Akkadian: ), also called (Cuneiform:, ; Sumerian: ; Akkadian: — ='water' ='deep', recorded in Greek as ), is the name for fresh water from underground aquifers which was given a religious fertilising qual ...
*
Atum
Atum (, Egyptian: ''jtm(w)'' or ''tm(w)'', ''reconstructed'' ; Coptic ''Atoum''), sometimes rendered as Atem or Tem, is an important deity in Egyptian mythology.
Name
Atum's name is thought to be derived from the verb ''tm'' which means 'to c ...
*
Cosmic Ocean
A cosmic ocean or celestial river is a mythological motif found in the mythology of many cultures and civilizations, representing the world or cosmos as enveloped by primordial waters.
In ancient creation texts, the primordial waters are often ...
*
Nu (mythology)
Nu ("Watery One") or Nun ("The Inert One") ( Ancient Egyptian: ; Coptic: ), is the personification of the primordial watery abyss which existed at the time of creation and from which the creator sun god Ra arose, in ancient Egyptian religion ...
*
Tohu wa-bohu
''Tohu wa-bohu'' or ''Tohu va-Vohu'' ( ) is a Biblical Hebrew phrase found in the Genesis creation narrative ( Genesis 1:2) that describes the condition of the earth ()
immediately before the creation of light in Genesis 1:3.
Numerous inter ...
References
{{Genesis 1
Bereshit (parashah)
Hebrew words and phrases in the Hebrew Bible
Jewish underworld
Religious cosmologies
Biblical cosmology
Tiamat
Book of Genesis