Reference: Desert
American
The Scriptures, by "desert," generally mean an uncultivated place, a wilderness, or grazing tract. Some deserts were entirely fry and barren; others were beautiful, and had good pastures. David speaks of the beauty of the desert, Ps 65:12-13. Scripture names several deserts in the Holy Land. Other deserts particularly mentioned, are "that great and terrible wilderness" in Arabia Petraea, south of Canaan, Nu 21:20; also the region between Canaan and the Euphrates, Ex 23:31; De 11:24. The pastures of this wilderness are clothed in winter and spring with rich and tender herbage; but the heat of summer soon burns this up, and the Arabs are driven to seek pasturage elsewhere.
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I will make the borders of your land extend from the Gulf of Aqaba to the Mediterranean Sea and from the desert to the Euphrates River. I will give you power over the inhabitants of the land. You will drive them out as you advance.
and from Bamoth to the valley in the territory of the Moabites, below the top of Mount Pisgah, looking out over the desert.
Every place on which the sole of your foot treads will be yours. Your border will be from the wilderness to Lebanon, and from the river, the river Euphrates, as far as the western sea.
The pastures of the wilderness drip, and the hills surround themselves with rejoicing. The meadows are clothed with flocks and the valleys are covered with grain. They shout for joy, yes, they sing.
Easton
(1.) Heb. midbar, "pasture-ground;" an open tract for pasturage; a common (Joe 2:22). The "backside of the desert" (Ex 3:1) is the west of the desert, the region behind a man, as the east is the region in front. The same Hebrew word is rendered "wildernes," and is used of the country lying between Egypt and Palestine (21/14/type/nsb'>Ge 21:14,21; Ex 4:27; 19:2; Jos 1:4), the wilderness of the wanderings. It was a grazing tract, where the flocks and herds of the Israelites found pasturage during the whole of their journey to the Promised Land.
The same Hebrew word is used also to denote the wilderness of Arabia, which in winter and early spring supplies good pasturage to the flocks of the nomad tribes than roam over it (1Ki 9:18).
The wilderness of Judah is the mountainous region along the western shore of the Dead Sea, where David fed his father's flocks (1Sa 17:28; 26:2). Thus in both of these instances the word denotes a country without settled inhabitants and without streams of water, but having good pasturage for cattle; a country of wandering tribes, as distinguished from that of a settled people (Isa 35:1; 50:2; Jer 4:11). Such, also, is the meaning of the word "wilderness" in Mt 3:3; 15:33; Lu 15:4.
(2.) The translation of the Hebrew Aribah', "an arid tract" (Isa 35:1,6; 40:3; 41:19; 51:3, etc.). The name Arabah is specially applied to the deep valley of the Jordan (the Ghor of the Arabs), which extends from the lake of Tiberias to the Elanitic gulf. While midbar denotes properly a pastoral region, arabah denotes a wilderness. It is also translated "plains;" as "the plains of Jericho" (Jos 5:10; 2Ki 25:5), "the plains of Moab" (Nu 22:1; De 34:1,8), "the plains of the wilderness" (2Sa 17:16).
(3.) In the Revised Version of Nu 21:20 the Hebrew word jeshimon is properly rendered "desert," meaning the waste tracts on both shores of the Dead Sea. This word is also rendered "desert" in Ps 78:40; 106:14; Isa 43:19-20. It denotes a greater extent of uncultivated country than the other words so rendered. It is especially applied to the desert of the peninsula of Arabia (Nu 21:20; 23:28), the most terrible of all the deserts with which the Israelites were acquainted. It is called "the desert" in Ex 23:31; De 11:24. (See Jeshimon.)
(4.) A dry place; hence a desolation (Ps 9:6), desolate (Le 26:34); the rendering of the Hebrew word horbah'. It is rendered "desert" only in Ps 102:6; Isa 48:21; Eze 13:4, where it means the wilderness of Sinai.
(5.) This word is the symbol of the Jewish church when they had forsaken God (Isa 40:3). Nations destitute of the knowledge of God are called a "wilderness" (Isa 32:15, midbar). It is a symbol of temptation, solitude, and persecution (Isa 27:10, midbar; Isa 33:9, arabah).
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Early the next morning Abraham took bread and a container of water and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder. He also gave her the boy and sent her on her way. So she left and wandered around in the desert near Beer-sheba.
He lived in the wilderness of Paran. His mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
One day Moses was taking care of the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock across the desert to Sinai, the holy mountain.
Jehovah said to Aaron: Go to meet Moses in the wilderness. So he went and met him at the mountain of God and kissed him.
They traveled from Rephidim to the desert of Sinai. Israel camped in the wilderness at the foot of Mount Sinai.
I will make the borders of your land extend from the Gulf of Aqaba to the Mediterranean Sea and from the desert to the Euphrates River. I will give you power over the inhabitants of the land. You will drive them out as you advance.
Then the land will enjoy its time to honor Jehovah while it lies deserted. You will be in your enemies' land. Then the land will joyfully celebrate its time to honor Jehovah.
and from Bamoth to the valley in the territory of the Moabites, below the top of Mount Pisgah, looking out over the desert.
and from Bamoth to the valley in the territory of the Moabites, below the top of Mount Pisgah, looking out over the desert.
The Israelites moved and set up camp across from Jericho. They were on the plains of Moab east of the Jordan River.
Every place on which the sole of your foot treads will be yours. Your border will be from the wilderness to Lebanon, and from the river, the river Euphrates, as far as the western sea.
Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. Jehovah showed him all the land, Gilead as far as Dan,
So the sons of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days. Then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses came to an end.
From the wilderness and nearby Lebanon even to the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the great sea toward the going down of the sun (to the west), shall be your coast.
The children of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at evening in the plains of Jericho.
Eliab, David's oldest brother, heard David talking to the men. Then Eliab became angry with David. Why did you come here, he asked him, and with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know how overconfident and headstrong you are. You came here just to see the battle.
Saul went to the desert of Ziph. He took three thousand of Israel's best-trained men to search for David.
Quickly send messengers to tell David: 'Do not rest tonight in the river crossings in the desert. Make sure you cross the river. Otherwise Your Majesty and all the troops with him will be wiped out.'
The enemy is finished-in ruins forever. You have uprooted their cities. Even the memory of them has faded.
How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness! How often they caused him grief in the desert!
I resemble a pelican of the wilderness. I have become like an owl of the waste places.
They had an unreasonable desire for food in the wilderness. In the desert they tested God.
The fortified city stands desolate, abandoned settlements, forsaken like the desert. There the calves will graze, there they lie down; they strip its branches bare.
The Spirit will be poured out upon us from on high. Then the wilderness will be turned into a fertile field, and the fertile field will be considered a forest.
The land dries up and wastes away. Lebanon is ashamed and withers. Sharon is like a desert plain. Bashan and Carmel drop their leaves.
The desert will rejoice, and flowers will bloom in the wastelands.
The desert will rejoice, and flowers will bloom in the wastelands.
The lame will leap and dance, and those who cannot speak will shout for joy. Streams of water will flow through the desert plain.
A voice of one calling: In the wilderness prepare the way for Jehovah. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
A voice of one calling: In the wilderness prepare the way for Jehovah. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
I will put the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive in the desert. I will set pines in the wasteland, the fir and the cypress together.
I am going to do something new. It is already happening. Do you recognize it? I will clear a way in the desert. I will make rivers on dry land. Wild animals, jackals, and ostriches will honor me. I will provide water in the desert. I will make rivers on the dry land for my chosen people to drink.
They were not thirsty when he led them through the deserts. He made water flow from a rock for them. He split a rock, and water gushed out.
Why was no one here when I came? Why was no one here to answer when I called? Am I too weak to reclaim you? Do I not have the power to rescue you? I dry up the sea with my command, and I turn rivers into deserts. Their fish stink because there is no water, and people die of thirst.
Jehovah will surely comfort Zion. He will look with compassion on all her ruins. He will make her deserts like Eden and her wastelands like the garden of Jehovah. Joy and gladness will be found in her along with thanksgiving and the sound of singing.
Then it will be said to these people and to Jerusalem: A hot wind from the heights will blow in the desert toward my people. It will not be a wind that winnows or cleanses.
O Israel, your prophets have been like foxes among ruins.
Do not be afraid you beasts of the field. The pastures of the wilderness have turned green. The tree bears its fruit. The fig tree and the vine yield their strength.
Isaiah spoke of John when he said: He is a voice shouting in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of Jehovah. Make his paths straight.' (Isaiah 40:3)
The disciples replied: Where would we get so many loaves in this desolate place to satisfy such a large crowd?
If you have a hundred sheep and lose one of them, what do you do? You leave the other ninety-nine sheep in the pasture and go looking for the one you lost until you find it.
Fausets
Not meaning a barren, burning, sandy waste, in the case of Sinai and Palestine. Sand is the exception, not the rule, in the peninsula of Sinai. Even still it is diversified by oases and verdant valleys with wells. Much more formerly, for traces exist in many parts of Egyptian miners' smelting furnaces. But forest after forest being consumed by them for fuel, the rain decreased, and the fertility of the land has sunk down to what it now is. Arabah (now the Ghor) is the designation of the sunken valley N. and S. of the Dead Sea, especially the N., the deepest and hottest depression on the earth. Though in its present neglected state it is desolate, it formerly exhibited tropical luxuriance of vegetation, because the water resources of the country were duly used.
Jericho, "the city of palm trees," at the lower end, and Bethshean at the upper, were especially so noted. Though there are no palms growing there now, yet black trunks of palm are still found drifted on to the shores of the Dead Sea (Eze 47:8). In the prophets and poetical books arabah is used generally for a waste (Isa 35:1). It is not so used in the histories, but specifically for the Jordan valley. (See ARABAH.) The wilderness of Israel's 40 years wanderings (Paran, now the Tih) afforded ample sustenance then for their numerous cattle; so that the skeptic's objection to the history on this ground is futile.
Midbar, the regular term for this "desert" or "wilderness" (Ex 3:1; 5:3; 19:2), means a pasture ground (from daabar, "to drive flocks") (Ex 10:26; 12:38; Nu 11:22; 32:1). It is "desert" only in comparison with the rich agriculture of Egypt and Palestine. The midbars of Ziph, Maon, and Paran, etc., are pasture wastes beyond the cultivated grounds adjoining these towns or places; verdant in spring, but dusty, withered, and dreary at the end of summer. Charbah also occurs, expressing dryness and desolation: Ps 102:6, "desert," commonly translated "waste places" or "desolation." Also Jeshimon, denoting the wastes on both sides of the Dead Sea, in the historical books. The transition from "pasture land" to "desert" appears Ps 65:12, "the pastures of the wilderness" (Joe 2:22.).
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One day Moses was taking care of the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock across the desert to Sinai, the holy mountain.
One day Moses was taking care of the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock across the desert to Sinai, the holy mountain.
Then they said: The God of the Hebrews met with us. Please, let us go on a three-day journey into the wilderness. Then we may sacrifice to Jehovah our God. Otherwise he will fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.
Then they said: The God of the Hebrews met with us. Please, let us go on a three-day journey into the wilderness. Then we may sacrifice to Jehovah our God. Otherwise he will fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.
No, we will take our animals with us! Not one will be left behind. We must select the animals with which to worship Jehovah our God. We will not know what animals to sacrifice to him until we get there.
No, we will take our animals with us! Not one will be left behind. We must select the animals with which to worship Jehovah our God. We will not know what animals to sacrifice to him until we get there.
Many other people also went with them, along with large numbers of sheep, goats, and cattle.
Many other people also went with them, along with large numbers of sheep, goats, and cattle.
They traveled from Rephidim to the desert of Sinai. Israel camped in the wilderness at the foot of Mount Sinai.
They traveled from Rephidim to the desert of Sinai. Israel camped in the wilderness at the foot of Mount Sinai.
Could enough cattle and sheep even be killed to satisfy them? Are all the fish in the sea enough for them?
Could enough cattle and sheep even be killed to satisfy them? Are all the fish in the sea enough for them?
The sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad had a large number of livestock. They saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead was indeed a place suitable for livestock.
The sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad had a large number of livestock. They saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead was indeed a place suitable for livestock.
The pastures of the wilderness drip, and the hills surround themselves with rejoicing.
The pastures of the wilderness drip, and the hills surround themselves with rejoicing.
I resemble a pelican of the wilderness. I have become like an owl of the waste places.
I resemble a pelican of the wilderness. I have become like an owl of the waste places.
The desert will rejoice, and flowers will bloom in the wastelands.
The desert will rejoice, and flowers will bloom in the wastelands.
He said: This water flows through the land to the east, down into the Jordan Valley, and into the Dead Sea. When the water flows into the Dead Sea, it will replace the salt water there with fresh water.
He said: This water flows through the land to the east, down into the Jordan Valley, and into the Dead Sea. When the water flows into the Dead Sea, it will replace the salt water there with fresh water.
Do not be afraid you beasts of the field. The pastures of the wilderness have turned green. The tree bears its fruit. The fig tree and the vine yield their strength.
Do not be afraid you beasts of the field. The pastures of the wilderness have turned green. The tree bears its fruit. The fig tree and the vine yield their strength.
Hastings
Morish
See WILDERNESS.
Smith
Desert.
Not a stretch of sand, an utterly barren waste, but a wild, uninhabited region. The words rendered in the Authorized Version by "desert," when used in the historical books denote definite localities.
1. ARABAH. This word means that very depressed and enclosed region--the deepest and the hottest chasm in the world--the sunken valley north and south of the Dead Sea, but more particularly the former. [ARABAH] Arabah in the sense of the Jordan valley is translated by the word "desert" only in
See Arabah
2. MIDBAR. This word, which our translators have most frequently rendered by "desert," is accurately "the pasture ground." It is most frequently used for those tracts of waste land which lie beyond the cultivated ground in the immediate neighborhood of the towns and villages of Palestine, and which are a very familiar feature to the traveller in that country.
3. CHARBAH appears to have the force of dryness, and thence of desolation. It is rendered "desert" in Psal 102:6; Isai 48:21; Ezek 13:4 The term commonly employed for it in the Authorized Version is "waste places" or "desolation."
4. JESHIMON, with the definite article, apparently denotes the waste tracts on both sides of the Dead Sea. In all these cases it is treated as a proper name in the Authorized Version. Without the article it occurs in a few passages of poetry in the following of which it is rendered; "desert:"
See Jeshimon
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One day Moses was taking care of the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock across the desert to Sinai, the holy mountain.
I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name, Jehovah, I did not make myself known to them.
Moses said to Jehovah: The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai for you warned us. You said: 'Put limits around the mountain and set it apart as holy.'
How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness! How often they caused him grief in the desert!
They had an unreasonable desire for food in the wilderness. In the desert they tested God.
I am going to do something new. It is already happening. Do you recognize it? I will clear a way in the desert. I will make rivers on dry land. Wild animals, jackals, and ostriches will honor me. I will provide water in the desert. I will make rivers on the dry land for my chosen people to drink.