In terms of Scripture itself the Bible does not declare creation ex nihilo or creation from nothing. That view largely results from theological interpretation and tradition.
Genesis 1 states “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep”.
As observed Genesis 1 does not declare creation from nothing. Nothing is not suggested, only things are expressed.
“Without form” suggests chaotic or unstructured, not nonexistent. “Void” is referring to the state of a thing, the state of the unstructured Earth, not nothing.
“Without form”, “formless”, nor “void” suggest nothing or nonexistence. They are all qualities or things in reference to other things.
In other words God is shown to bring order and structure out of chaos, not create something from nothing.
The next relevant verse is Isaiah 45:18, “For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord; and there is none else”.
Again Scripture emphasizes forming and shaping, suggesting things already existent, not creation of something from nothing.
The closest is Hebrews 11:3, “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear”.
But even here no explicit reference is made to nothing or nonexistence. Scripture simply states that things seen were made of things unseen. All things, not nothing.
The doctrine of creation from nothing or creation ex nihilo developed later in Jewish and Christian thought.
The Bible itself does not explicitly teach creation ex nihilo.
In the most basic sense God would not create from nothing as God, too, would be during the process of creation. God is eternal. God is not nothing.
Nothing is not and cannot be as expressed in Luke 1:37, “For with God nothing shall be impossible”.
