196. “Tohu is strangulation, etc.” Tohu [“unformed,” Genesis 1:2] is strangulation, as it is stated: “[He shall stretch over it] the line of confusion” [tohu, Isaiah 34:11]; “a measuring rope [in his hand,” Zechariah 2:5]. Bohu [“void”] is stoning, i. e., stones that are sunk into the great deep for the punishment of the wicked. “And darkness” is burning, as it is stated: “And it came to pass, when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, and the mountain was burning with fire up to the heart of the sky” [Deuteronomy 5:19], “darkness, [cloud, and thick darkness,” Deuteronomy 4:19]. This is a powerful fire that shall whirl upon the head of the wicked [see Jeremiah 23:19] to burn them.

Explanation: Those who fulfill the fear of God, not because is it a commandment of the King but out of fear of punishment, are trapped in the kelippa of tohu, for they wonder [temehim] why they do not understand the thoughts and words of God. This kelippa is considered like a strangling rope over a person’s neck, blocking the air of holiness [that is needed] for the breath of his life. This is the meaning of: “As it is written, ‘the line of confusion’; ‘a measuring rope. ’” In one verse it is stated: “The line of confusion,” while the other one states: “A measuring rope,” and each of them teaches something about the other. That is, the meaning of “the line of confusion” is “a measuring rope.” According to the line and measure of one’s bewilderment corresponds the measure of the rope that the Sitra Aḥara throws around one’s neck and strangles him. This is the mystical meaning of the verse: “Woe to them who draw iniquity with false cords” (Isaiah 5:18).

[The Zohar] continues: “Bohu is stoning.” Once he has been trapped by the Sitra Aḥara with a rope around his neck, [the kelippot] now have the strength to do with him as they please: Either to stone him, burn him, or to kill him with the sword, as [Rabbi Shimon] proceeds to explain. Stoning means that they break his skull through evil desires and evil thoughts and pull him into the great deep in order to punish him. “‘And darkness’ is burning etc. to burn them,” that the Sitra Aḥara surrounds him with a powerful fire that burns away the vitality of holiness from [him].