The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.

"He found him in a desert land, And in the howling waste of a wilderness; He encircled him, He cared for him, He guarded him as the pupil of His eye.

In the wilderness: Beth-arabah, Middin and Secacah, and Nibshan and the City of Salt and Engedi; six cities with their villages.

"The paths of their course wind along, They go up into nothing and perish.

"Behold, as wild donkeys in the wilderness They go forth seeking food in their activity, As bread for their children in the desert.

"From want and famine they are gaunt Who gnaw the dry ground by night in waste and desolation,

Yet they still continued to sin against Him, To rebel against the Most High in the desert.

I resemble a pelican of the wilderness; I have become like an owl of the waste places.

Let the wilderness and its cities lift up their voices, The settlements where Kedar inhabits Let the inhabitants of Sela sing aloud, Let them shout for joy from the tops of the mountains.

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

A wild donkey accustomed to the wilderness, That sniffs the wind in her passion. In the time of her heat who can turn her away? All who seek her will not become weary; In her month they will find her.

Even jackals offer the breast, They nurse their young; But the daughter of my people has become cruel Like ostriches in the wilderness.

but I have hated Esau, and I have made his mountains a desolation and appointed his inheritance for the jackals of the wilderness."