I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.
Graphic picture of the utter desolation about to visit Palestine. "I beheld, and, lo!" four times solemnly repeated, heightens the awful effect of the scene (cf. Isaiah 24:19; Isaiah 34:11).
Without form and void. The very language used of chaotic matter, before God prepared the each for man х tohuw (H8414) waabohuw (H922)]: reduced to the primeval chaos (Genesis 1:2).