You are referring to Jer 4:23. However, this is some of the context that precedes v.23:
13 Look! He advances like the clouds, his chariots come like a whirlwind, his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us! We are ruined!
14 Jerusalem, wash the evil from your heart and be saved. How long will you harbor wicked thoughts?
15 A voice is announcing from Dan, proclaiming disaster from the hills of Ephraim.
16“Tell this to the nations, proclaim concerning Jerusalem: ‘A besieging army is coming from a distant land, raising a war cry against the cities of Judah.
17 They surround her like men guarding a field, because she has rebelled against me,’ ” declares the LORD.
18 “Your own conduct and actions have brought this on you. This is your punishment. How bitter it is! How it pierces to the heart!”
20 Disaster follows disaster; the whole land lies in ruins. In an instant my tents are destroyed, my shelter in a moment.
23 I looked at the earth, and it was
formless and empty; and at the heavens, and their light was gone.
24 I looked at the
mountains, and they were quaking; all the
hills were swaying.
Here are a number of translations of Jer 4:23 -
American Standard Version
I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was waste and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.
Aramaic Bible in Plain English
I looked in the earth, and behold, chaos and emptiness, and to the Heavens, and their light is not there
English Revised Version
I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was waste and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.
Good News Translation
I looked at the earth--it was a barren waste; at the sky--there was no light.
JPS Tanakh 1917
I beheld the earth, And, lo, it was waste and void; And the heavens, and they had no light.
NET Bible
"I looked at the land and saw that it was an empty wasteland. I looked up at the sky, and its light had vanished.
New Heart English Bible
I saw the earth, and, look, it was waste and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.
World English Bible
I saw the earth, and, behold, it was waste and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.
Young's Literal Translation
I looked to the land, and lo, waste and void, And unto the heavens, and their light is not.
Here is the point: the Hebrew "tohu wabohu" occurs in Gen 1:2, and translated as "without form and void". And some translations of Jer 4:23 use the same translation as found in Gen 1:2.
But these translations in context show destruction and waste from God's punishment on Israel.
I am not suggesting that Gen 1:2 is a punishment, but simply a CONDITION, which required God to restore earth, which is the real story of the 6 24 hr days God worked.
You are assuming what Moses DIDN'T write. He didn't refer to single atoms, which STILL have FORM. So no matter how you slice matter
)) you still have FORM.
And then, v.2 doesn't exist in reality.
Those who have eyes do see. I think the YEC just don't want to see. They are invested in their view.
But "tohu wabohu" which occurs in both Gen 1:2 and Jer 4:23, say the same thing.
Go back and look at the these 2 verses from Jer 4:
23 I looked at the earth, and it was
formless and empty; and at the heavens, and their light was gone.
24I looked at the
mountains, and they were quaking; all the
hills were swaying.
Can you explain how v.23 can be true, that the earth "was formless and empty" when in the very next verse Jeremiah writes about mountains and hills?
Certainly mountains and hills have form. I've seen plenty.
Again, the phrase here also occurs in Gen 1:2. What Moses didn't write in 1:2 was that the earth was formless. That is impossible.
So you have to figure out what "tohu" really means.