道 & K•ος

תוהו ובוהו, from תֹהוּ‎ (tóhu, “nothingness, void”) + בֹּהוּ‎ (bóhu, “emptiness, desolation”)

וְהָאָ֗רֶץ הָיְתָ֥ה תֹ֙הוּ֙ וָבֹ֔הוּ וְחֹ֖שֶׁךְ עַל־פְּנֵ֣י תְהֹ֑ום וְר֣וּחַ אֱלֹהִ֔ים מְרַחֶ֖פֶת עַל־פְּנֵ֥י הַמָּֽיִם‎

— Genesis 1:2, Westminster Leningrad Codex

Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

— Genesis 1:2, New International Version

The words tohu and bohu also occur in parallel in Isaiah 34:11, which the King James Version translates with the words "confusion" and "emptiness".

The two Hebrew words are properly segolates, spelt "tohuw" and "bohuw".
Hebrew "tohuw" translates to "wasteness, that which is laid waste, desert; emptiness, vanity; nothing". 
"Tohuw" is frequently used in the Book of Isaiah in the sense of "vanity", but "bohuw" occurs nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible (outside of Genesis 1:2, the passage in Isaiah 34:11 mentioned above, and in Jeremiah 4:23, which is a reference to Genesis 1:2), its use alongside tohu being mere paronomasia, and is given the equivalent translation of "emptiness, voidness".

《道德經 - 第二十五章》

有物混成，先天地生。
寂兮寥兮，獨立不改，周行而不殆，可以為天下母。
吾不知其名，字之曰道，強為之名曰大。
大曰逝，逝曰遠，遠曰反。
故道大，天大，地大，王亦大。
域中有四大，而王居其一焉。
人法地，地法天，天法道，道法自然。

(Representations of the mystery)

There was something undefined and complete, coming into existence before Heaven and Earth.

How still it was and formless, standing alone and undergoing no change, reaching everywhere and in no danger (of being exhausted)!

It may be regarded as the Mother of all things.

I do not know its name, and I give it the designation of the Dao (the Way or Course).

Making an effort (further) to give it a name I call it The Great.

Great, it passes on (in constant flow).

Passing on, it becomes remote. Having become remote, it returns.

Therefore the Dao is great; Heaven is great; Earth is great, and the (sage) king is also great.

In the universe, there are four that are great, and the (sage) king is one of them.

Man takes his law from the Earth; the Earth takes its law from Heaven; Heaven takes its law from the Dao.

The law of the Dao is its being what it is.

25

    Before Heaven and Earth came into existence
    There was That which though formless was complete.
    Silent! Still! Unfathomable!
    It stands alone, unchanging!
    All-pervading, inexhaustible!
    One may think of it as the Mother of the Universe.
    What its real name is I do not know:
    If I name it, I call it the Tao.
    If I classify it, I call it Supreme.
    Supreme means ever in a flow;
    Ever inflow means going far away;
    Going far away means returning to the source.
    Therefore we may say:
    The Tao is supreme;
    Heaven too is supreme;
    The Earth is supreme.
    A ruler of men may also be supreme.
    There are four things that are supreme, and a ruler of men is one of them.
    Man follows the standards of the Earth;
    The Earth follows the standards of Heaven;
    Heaven follows the standards of the Tao.
    The Tao follows its own standard.

如何理解“有物混成，先天地生”？

一、此句出自老子《道德經》第二十五章。

二、“無名天地之始；有名萬物之母”。

《道德經》，開篇即說“無名天地之始；有名萬物之母”。但細想一下，似乎作者講的“有”與“無”其實是個人對世界的感受。因為世界太過玄妙，使個人在世界面前因為不知其所以然，所以對其無可名狀。所以只以感知到的狀態“無”“有”來表述。而人們的這種表達是勉強的，就只知道說，天地出現之前為“無”；萬物出現之前，就已經有一個存在——姑且稱之為“有”的東西——這個是萬物之母。這個萬物之母，似乎可以視為“天地”了。當然，天地是按“道”運行以創造萬物的。

所以在“無名天地之始，有名萬物之母”之後，作者緊接著說：故常無欲，以觀其妙；常有欲，以觀其徼。

意思大致是說，既然“有”“無”難以弄清，人們就應該保持無欲的常態，或者保持“中”的狀態，就是“喜怒哀樂”皆未發的狀態，在世界面前不動心不動情，一點不對世界加上主觀色彩，這樣就可以發現世界自然狀態的奇妙。在盡知世界自然狀態的奇妙後，人們應該立即反而進入有目的的認識考察世界的狀態，就是要帶著慾望或追求，帶著我們想知道的問題再去考察世界，這樣就會發現世界所遵循的“道”。

這其實基本上是在講認識的方法。

此處之“有”，可視為天地已經各施其職的原始狀態。 “無”可視為天地未判、合而為一的狀態。

三、道法自然。

（一）“有物混成”是物質。

“有物混成”，“有”在此，其實是前文第一點講的“無”。即天地未判、合而為一而自主運行的狀態。

“無名天地之始”，這個“混成”之“物”其實就是“無”為“天地之始”。因此，它才“先天地生”。

它無聲無形，獨一無二，無所不在，始終運行是它的常態，它就是天地產生的前提條件和必要條件和基本的物質基礎。

（二）“有物混成”是“道”。

作者說“吾不知其名，字之曰道，強為之名，曰大”。

在這裡作者的思維顯然有一個很大的跳躍。作者在這裡，把“有物混成”的實體形狀、以及其運行的形態、運行的規律等抽象因素，混合在一起來命名，稱之為“道”。

（三）“道”是既是客觀存在，也是人們對“有物混成”的形而上的認識，也是抽象的精神成果。

其實體的狀態，是人在無欲的狀態下認識到的；而其運行規律，則是在人“常有欲”的狀態下認識到的。而“道”是這兩種認識狀態的結果的綜合結晶。

到這個層面，“有物混成的”的實體狀態，“有物混成”的規律抽象狀態，人們對它的認識結果，就三合一了。

因此，“有物混成”具有“逝、遠、反”的特徵，故“道大，天大，地大，人亦大”。人法地，地法天，天法道，道法自然，四者“混成”一體而無法分割。

老子的思維是很生動的，也是很深沉的，而且是跳躍的。讀《道德經》一定要慢慢悟才有味道。