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 will dry up for the righteous to walk on towards their redemption at the end of days (Gen. 51:10). In contrast to this, in another book ^{[citation needed]} from the Jewish Bible the drying of the Tehom will be a punishment to the wicked rather than a reward.

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

"Tehom" is cognate with Babylonian Tiamat, the monstrous mother of the gods. Tiamat is considered goddess of the Tehom and of salt water, who with her freshwater partner Apsu/Abzu, was one the original creators of the Babylonian cosmos. In the Babylonian Creation Myth, the Enuma Elish, Tiamat, angered by the younger gods, wages war against them and threatens to take back the creation. It is Enlil "Lord Air" (later Marduk) who saves the cosmos by slaying Tiamat with the arrows of his winds, and rebuilding the Earth and Sky from her dismembered body, as shown in the 4th Tablet of the Enuma Elish.

As Tiamat opened her mouth to its full extent,

He drove in the evil wind, while as yet she had not shut her lips.

The terrible winds filled her belly,

And her courage was taken from her, and her mouth she opened wide.

He seized the spear and burst her belly,

He severed her inward parts, he pierced her heart.

He overcame her and cut off her life;

He cast down her body and stood upon it.

When he had slain Tiamat, the leader,

Her might was broken, her host was scattered.

[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.