Unformed, and the Spirit over the water
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ἡ δὲ γῆ ἦν ἀόρατος καὶ ἀκατασκεύαστος, καὶ σκότος ἐπάνω τῆς ἀβύσσου· καὶ πνεῦμα θεοῦ ἐπεφέρετο ἐπάνω τοῦ ὕδατος.
The earth's condition before creation's ordering: ἀόρατος καὶ ἀκατασκεύαστος, “unseen and unfashioned”, renders the Hebrew תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ (tōhû wābōhû), the famous alliterative pair “formless and void” — the LXX translators reached for two Greek adjectives of not-yet-thereness rather than a literal calque. Over the ἄβυσσος (the deep, the primeval waters) hovers the πνεῦμα θεοῦ, “Spirit/breath/wind of God” — the same ambiguity (πνεῦμα can mean any of the three) that runs through the whole Bible's language for the divine presence.
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