'Deserts' in the Bible

Sing to God, sing praises to His name;Lift up a song for Him who rides through the desert—His name is the Lord—be in good spirits before Him.

They did not thirst when He led them through the deserts.He made the waters flow out of the rock for them;He split the rock and the waters flowed.

Saying to those who are bound and captured, ‘Go forth,’And to those who are in [spiritual] darkness, ‘Show yourselves [come into the light of the Savior].’They will feed along the roads [on which they travel],And their pastures will be on all the bare heights.

“They did not say, ‘Where is the LordWho brought us up from the land of Egypt,Who led us through the wilderness,Through a land of deserts and of pits,Through a land of drought and of the deep darkness [of the shadow of death],Through a land that no man passed throughAnd where no man lived?’

“Flee, turn back, dwell in the depths [of the desert to escape the judgment of Edom],O inhabitants of Dedan,For I will bring the destruction of Esau (Edom) upon himWhen I inspect and punish him.

“Flee, run far away! Dwell in the depths [of the desert],O inhabitants of Hazor,” says the Lord,“For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has planned a course of action against youAnd devised a scheme against you.

The king [of Judah] will mourn and the prince (Zedekiah) will be clothed with [garments of] despair and anguish, and the hands of the people of the land shall tremble [in terror]. I will deal with them in accordance with their conduct, and by their judgments I will judge them. And they will know [without any doubt] that I am the Lord.’”

“Woe (judgment is coming) to the worthless and foolish shepherdWho deserts the flock!The sword will strike his armAnd his right eye!His arm shall be totally witheredAnd his right eye completely blinded.”

The child continued to grow and to become strong in spirit, and he lived in the deserts until the day of his public appearance to Israel [as John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Messiah].

But the hired man [who merely serves for wages], who is neither the shepherd nor the owner of the sheep, when he sees the wolf coming, deserts the flock and runs away; and the wolf snatches the sheep and scatters them.