Abyssus abyssum invocat ”deep calls to deep" - Psalm 42:7
In the Bible, the abyss is an unfathomably deep or boundless place. The term comes from the Greek word abyssos (Ancient Greek: ἄβῠσσος, romanized: ábussos), meaning "deep, unfathomable, boundless".[1] It is used as both an adjective and a noun.
It translates the Hebrew words tehóm (Hebrew: תְּהוֹם, lit. 'deep, void'), ṣulā (צוּלָה "sea-deep, deep flood") and the name of the sea monster rahab (רחב "spacious place; rage, fierceness, insolence, pride.")[2] The Book of Jonah portrays the prophet's near death experience and his descent to the abyss.[3]
In the original sense of the Hebrew tehóm, the abyss was the primordial waters or chaos out of which the ordered world was created (Genesis 1:2). The term could also refer literally to the depths of the sea, the deep source of a spring or the interior of the Earth.[4]
In a later extended sense in intertestamental Jewish literature, the abyss was the underworld, either the abode of the dead (Sheol) or eventually the realm of the rebellious spirits (fallen angels) (Hell). In the latter sense, specifically, the abyss was often seen as a prison for demons.
In Psalm 42:7, "deep calls to deep" (referring to the waters), or in Latin abyssus abyssum invocat, developing the theme of the longing of the soul for God.
In Revelation 9:11, Abaddon is called "the angel of the abyss" and the place figures in the conclusion of history and God's final response to evil.[8]
On the Origin of the World, a text used in Gnosticism, states that during the end of the world, the archons will be cast into the abyss by Sophia for their injustice. There they will fight each other until only the chief archon remains and turns against himself.[9]