Bible Strands
Jeremiah 4:23
I looked at the earth, and it was formless and void; I looked to the heavens, and they had no light.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God delivers this vision to the prophet Jeremiah immediately after declaring that His people are foolish and lack understanding (Jeremiah 4:22). The declaration occurs within a prophetic oracle announcing impending national collapse.
The words — The Hebrew תֹהוּ (tohu) and בֹהוּ (bohu) literally mean formlessness and emptiness, describing the earth’s desolate condition. The verb רָאִיתִי (ra’iti), translated I looked at, marks the start of the visionary inspection that frames both the earth and the heavens.
The thread — The text describes heavens stripped of light alongside a desolate earth, a motif that appears in Matthew 24:29, Mark 13:24, and Isaiah 13:10. These passages record the same textual pattern of celestial darkness accompanying divine intervention.
Why it lands — The passage requires the reader to acknowledge that covenant rebellion reduces creation to chaos and darkness. It demands immediate repentance before judgment permanently strips away order and light.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.
Cross-references
- Matthew 24:29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days: ‘The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.’
- Mark 13:24 But in those days, after that tribulation: ‘The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light;
- Isaiah 13:10 For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light. The rising sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light.
- Joel 3:15 The sun and moon will grow dark, and the stars will no longer shine.
- Genesis 1:2 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.
- Luke 21:25 There will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among the nations, bewildered by the roaring of the sea and the surging of the waves.
- Ezekiel 32:7 When I extinguish you, I will cover the heavens and darken their stars. I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light.
- Joel 2:10 Before them the earth quakes; the heavens tremble. The sun and moon grow dark, and the stars lose their brightness.
- Amos 8:9 And in that day, declares the Lord GOD, I will make the sun go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the daytime.
- Joel 2:30 I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke.