Tehom

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Tehom or Tehwom (Hebrew: תְּהוֹם), literally "deep" or "abyss".

Tehom in the Bible refers to the great deep of the primordial waters of creation. It is first mentioned in Genesis 1:2: "veharetz hayta tohu vavohu vekhoshekh al-pnei tehom veruach elohim merakhefet al-pnei hamayyim". "And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.". (King James version)

It was from this place that the waters of Noah's flood had their origin (Gen. 7:11) and the place that God temporarily receded the sea for the Israelites to pass over (Isaiah 51:10) before destroying a pursuing army with a tidal wave, and the place that God will dry up for the righteous to walk on towards their redemption at the end of days^{[citation needed]}. In contrast to this, in another book from the Jewish Bible the drying of the Tehom will be a punishment to the wicked rather than a reward. (Isaiah 19:5)

Tehom is also the first of seven "Infernal Habitations" that correspond to the ten Qliphoth (literally "peels") of Jewish Kabbalic tradition.

Early 20th century Bible critics attempted to equate "Tehom" with the Babylonian Tiamat, the monstrous mother of the gods, however the words are not related and tehom is cognate to the Akkadian word tamtu which similarly denotes the primeval ocean. ^[1]

[edit] Other Usage

Tehom is also a Spanish laptop company, a publication company (Tehom Publications) and the title of a cosmic painting by the American painter Dozier Bell.