I. Name

Tĕhôm, usually translated “the deep”, occurs in Gen. 1.2 as a designation of the primeval sea, and is frequently used in the OT to denote the cosmic sea (Yam) on which the world rests, and from which all water comes, as well as any large body of water, including rivers, and the depth of the sea and the earth.

Heb. Tĕhôm is etymologically related to Akk. Tiāmat, which derives from an older Semitic root, thm, known in Ugaritic and other semitic languages as a designation of the sea. In Arabic Tihāmat denotes …