Jeremiah 4:23

“I looked at the land and saw ¹  that it was an empty wasteland. ²  I looked up at the sky, and its light had vanished.

Ge 1:2; Isa 5:30; Isa 13:10; Isa 24:19-23; Jer 9:10; Eze 32:7,8; Joe 2:10,30,31; Joe 3:15,16; Am 8:9; Mt 24:29,35; Mr 13:24,25; Lu 21:25,26; Ac 2:19,20; Re 20:11

¹ tn Heb “I looked at the land and behold...” This indicates the visionary character of Jeremiah’s description of the future condition of the land of Israel.

² tn Heb “formless and empty.” This is a case of hendiadys (two nouns joined by “and” both describe the same thing): one noun retains its full nominal force, the other functions as an adjective. The words תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ (tohu vavohu) allude to Gen 1:2, hyperbolically picturing a reversal of creation and return to the original precreation chaos.