17. Verse 2 And the earth was a void and an emptiness, and there was thick darkness over the face ¹ of the deep; and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face ¹ of the waters. The person who has yet to be regenerated is called 'a void and an empty earth', and also 'ground', in which no good or truth at all has been sown - 'void' where there is no good, and 'empty' where there is no truth. Consequently there is 'thick darkness', or stupidity and lack of knowledge about anything that has to do with faith in the Lord and so anything that has to do with spiritual and celestial life. This kind of person is described by the Lord through Jeremiah,

My people are foolish, they know Me not; they are stupid children, having no understanding; they are wise to do evil, and know not how to do good. I looked to the earth, and, behold, a void and an emptiness; and towards the heavens, and they had no light. Jeremiah 4:22-23, 25.

Footnotes:

1887. Inspiration implies that every detail of the Word - within its historical narratives as well as in all other parts - has within it the celestial things of love or good, and the spiritual things of faith or truth, and so has Divine things within it. For that which is inspired by the Lord comes down from Him, coming down in fact by way of the angelic heaven, then in the same manner by way of the world of spirits, down to mankind, with whom it presents itself as it exists in the letter. But in its first origins it is something entirely different. In heaven nothing belonging to the history of the world ever has a place there, but everything is a representative of something Divine. Nor is anything else ever perceived there, as may also be recognized to be so from the fact that the things existing there are indescribable. Unless therefore the historical descriptions are representative of Divine things, and so heavenly things, they cannot possibly be divinely inspired. The nature of the Word in the heavens is recognizable solely from the internal sense, for the Internal Sense is the Word of the Lord in the heavens.