Now the earth was without shape and empty, and darkness was over the surface of the watery deep, but the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the water.

The Lord found him in a desolate land, in an empty wasteland where animals howl. He continually guarded him and taught him; he continually protected him like the pupil of his eye.

These cities were in the desert: Beth Arabah, Middin, Secacah, Nibshan, the city of Salt, and En Gedi -- a total of six cities and their towns.

Caravans turn aside from their routes; they go into the wasteland and perish.

Like wild donkeys in the desert they go out to their labor, seeking diligently for food; the wasteland provides food for them and for their children.

gaunt with want and hunger, they would gnaw the parched land, in former time desolate and waste.

Yet they continued to sin against him, and rebelled against the sovereign One in the desert.

I am like an owl in the wilderness; I am like a screech owl among the ruins.

Let the desert and its cities shout out, the towns where the nomads of Kedar live! Let the residents of Sela shout joyfully; let them shout loudly from the mountaintops.

They do not thirst as he leads them through dry regions; he makes water flow out of a rock for them; he splits open a rock and water flows out.'

You are like a wild female donkey brought up in the wilderness. In her lust she sniffs the wind to get the scent of a male. No one can hold her back when she is in heat. None of the males need wear themselves out chasing after her. At mating time she is easy to find.

(Gimel) Even the jackals nurse their young at their breast, but my people are cruel, like ostriches in the desert.

and rejected Esau. I turned Esau's mountains into a deserted wasteland and gave his territory to the wild jackals."