'Waste' in the Bible

“The young lions have roared at him,They have made their voices heard and roared loudly.And they have made his land a waste;His cities have been destroyed and are burned ruins, without inhabitant.

“A lion has left his lair,And a destroyer of nations is on his way.He has gone out from his placeTo desolate your land;Your cities will be in ruinsWithout an inhabitant.

News of one [terrible] disaster comes close after another,For the whole land is devastated;Suddenly my tents are spoiled and destroyed,My [tent] curtains [ruined] in a moment.

I looked at the earth [in my vision], and behold, it was [as at the time of creation] formless and void;And to the heavens, and they had no light.

I looked, and behold, the fertile land was a wilderness,And all its cities were pulled downBefore the [presence of the] Lord, before His fierce anger.

Then I will cause the voices of joy and gladness, and the voices of the bridegroom and the bride to vanish from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem; for the land will become a ruin—a wasteland.

Who is the wise man who may understand this [without any doubt]? To whom has the mouth of the Lord spoken, so that he may declare it? Why is the land ruined, laid waste like a wilderness, so that no one passes through?

Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not know nor recognize YouAnd on the families that do not call Your name.For they have devoured Jacob;They have devoured him and consumed himAnd made his land a desolate waste.

This whole land will be a waste and a horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

‘Then when seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans (Babylonia),’ says the Lord, ‘for their wickedness, and will make the land [of the Chaldeans] a perpetual waste.

“A voice! The cry of the shepherdsAnd the wailing of the masters of the flock!For the Lord is destroying their pasture,

“He has left His lair like the lion;For their land has become a horrorBecause of the fierceness of the oppressorAnd because of the Lord’s fierce anger.”

Do not listen to them; serve the king of Babylon, and live! Why should this city become a ruin?

“Thus says the Lord, ‘Yet again there will be heard in this place of which you say, “It is a [desolate] waste, without man and without animal”—even in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without animal—

The Lord could no longer endure it, because of the evil of your acts and the repulsive acts which you have committed; because of them your land has become a ruin, an object of horror and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is this day.

“O you daughter who dwells in Egypt and you who dwell with her,Prepare yourselves [with all you will need] to go into exile,For Memphis will become desolate;It will even be burned down and without inhabitant.

Concerning Moab.Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,“Woe (judgment is coming) to [the city of] Nebo, for it has been destroyed!Kiriathaim has been shamed, it has been captured;Misgab [the high fortress] has been shamed, broken down and crushed.

“Moab is shamed, for she has been broken down and shattered.Wail and cry out!Tell by [the banks of] the ArnonThat Moab has been destroyed.

“Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai [in Ammon] has been destroyed!Cry out, O daughters of Rabbah!Wrap yourselves with sackcloth and lament (cry out in grief),And rush back and forth inside the enclosures;For Malcam [your powerless god] will go into exileTogether with his priests and his princes.

For I have sworn [an oath] by Myself,” says the Lord, “that Bozrah will become an object of horror, a reproach, a ruin, and a curse; and all its cities will become perpetual ruins.”

Your mother [Babylon] shall be greatly shamed;She who gave you birth will be ashamed.Behold, she will be the least of the nations,A wilderness, a parched land and a desert.

“They will not take from you [even] a stone for a cornerstoneNor any rock for a foundation,But you will be desolate forever,” says the Lord.

For the Lord is going to destroy Babylon and make her a ruin,And He will still her great voice [that hums with city life].And the waves [of her conquerors] roar like great waters,The noise of their voices is raised up [like the marching of an army].