19 Bible Verses about Deserts
Most Relevant Verses
“They did not say, ‘Where is the Lord
Who 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 through
And where no man lived?’
Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro (Reuel) his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb (Sinai), the mountain of God.
And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose dead bodies were scattered in the desert?
For the Lord your God has blessed you in all that you have done; He has known about your wanderings through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing.”’
Nevertheless, God was not well-pleased with most of them, for they were scattered along the ground in the wilderness [because their lack of self-control led to disobedience which led to death].
John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins [that is, requiring a change of one’s old way of thinking, turning away from sin and seeking God and His righteousness].
This is the one who was mentioned by the prophet Isaiah when he said,
“The voice of one shouting in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the road for the Lord,
Make His highways straight (level, direct)!’”
Then Jesus was led by the [Holy] Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
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.
But lusted intensely in the wilderness
And tempted God [with their insistent desires] in the desert.
The wilderness and the dry land will be glad;
The Arabah (desert) will shout in exultation and blossom
Like the autumn crocus.
A voice of one is calling out,
“Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness [remove the obstacles];
Make straight and smooth in the desert a highway for our God.
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].
Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written [in Scripture], ‘He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.’”
From Thematic Bible
Beasts » Found in » Deserts
But desert creatures will lie down there,
And their houses will be full of owls;
Ostriches also will live there, and
Birds » Inhabit » Deserts
I am like a [mournful]
I am like a [desolate] owl of the wasteland.
Deserts » Notable
Then the Israelites, the whole congregation, came into the Wilderness of Zin in the first month [in the fortieth year after leaving Egypt]. And the people lived in Kadesh. Miriam died there and was buried there.
But Joab and Abishai [Asahel’s brothers] pursued Abner. When the sun was going down, they came to the hill of Ammah, which is in front of Giah on the way to the wilderness of Gibeon.
I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines (the Mediterranean), and from the wilderness to the River Euphrates; for I will hand over the residents of the land to you, and you shall drive them out before you.
When they moved out from Rephidim, they came to the Wilderness of Sinai and they camped there; Israel camped at the base of the mountain [of Sinai].
So they arose and went to Ziph ahead of Saul. Now David and his men were in the Wilderness of Maon, in the Arabah south of Jeshimon.
Deserts » General references to
But an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go south to the road that runs from Jerusalem down to Gaza.” (This is a desert road).
When the apostles returned, they told Him all that they had done. He took them with Him and He privately withdrew [across the Jordan] to a city called Bethsaida.
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].
When daybreak came, Jesus left [Simon Peter’s house] and went to a secluded place; and the crowds were searching for Him, and [they] came to Him and tried to keep Him from leaving them.
Deserts » Illustrative of » The world
(The Chorus)
“Who is this coming up from the wilderness
Leaning upon her beloved?”
(The Shulammite Bride)
“What is this coming up from the wilderness
Like [stately] pillars of smoke
Perfumed with myrrh and frankincense,
With all the fragrant powders of the merchant?”
Deserts » Illustrative of » Barrenness
He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up;
And He led them through the depths as through a pasture.
He turns rivers into a wilderness,
And springs of water into a thirsty ground;
Deserts » Phenomena of, alluded to » Clouds of sand and dust
The Lord will make the rain of your land powder and dust; from heaven it will come down on you until you are destroyed.
A wind too strong and full for winnowing comes at My word. Now I will also speak in judgment against [My people]. Behold, [the enemy] comes up like clouds, his chariots like the whirlwind; his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are ruined (destroyed)!
Deserts » Illustrative of » Desolation by armies
Many shepherds [of an invading host] have destroyed My vineyard, they have trampled My portion underfoot; they have made My pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. They have made it a desolation, and desolate it mourns before Me; the whole land has been made desolate, but no man lays it to heart. Destroyers have come upon all the bare heights in the desert, for the sword of the Lord devours from one end of the land even to the other; no flesh has peace or can find the means to escape. read more.
They have sown wheat but have reaped thorns; they have worn themselves out but without profit. And they shall be ashamed of your [lack of] harvests and revenues because of the fierce and glowing anger of the Lord.
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.
Deserts » Danger of travelling in
For Pharaoh will say of the Israelites, ‘They are wandering aimlessly in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.’
many times on journeys, [exposed to] danger from rivers, danger from bandits, danger from my own countrymen, danger from the Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger on the sea, danger among those posing as believers;
Deserts » Guides required in
Then Moses said, “
“He found him in a desert land,
In the howling wasteland of a wilderness;
He kept circling him, He took care of him,
He protected him as the
Deserts » Infested with robbers
“Lift up your eyes to the barren heights and see;
Where have you not been violated?
You sat by the road waiting [eagerly] for them [those man-made gods]
Like an Arab [tribesman who waits to attack] in the desert,
And you have desecrated the land
With your [vile] prostitution and your wickedness (disobedience to God).
Our pursuers were swifter
Than the eagles of the sky;
They pursued us on the mountains,
They waited in ambush for us in the wilderness.
Deserts » Mentioned in scripture » Beer-sheba
So Abraham got up early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder, and gave her the boy, and sent her
Then he was afraid and arose and went for his life and came to Beersheba of Judah [over eighty miles, and out of Jezebel's realm] and left his servant there. But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a lone broom or juniper tree and asked that he might die. He said, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am no better than my fathers.
Deserts » Described as » Dry and without water
He led you through the great and terrible wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water; it was He who brought water for you out of the flinty rock.
Then all the congregation of the children of Israel moved on from the Wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink.
Deserts » The persecuted fled to
(people of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and [living in] caves and holes in the ground.
David stayed in the wilderness in strongholds, in the hill country of the Wilderness of Ziph. Saul searched for him every day, but God did not hand David over to him.
Deserts » Mentioned in scripture » Paran
He lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
and the Israelites set out on their journey from the Wilderness of Sinai, and the cloud [of the Lord’s guiding presence] settled down in the Wilderness of Paran.
Deserts » Phenomena of, alluded to » Simoom or deadly wind
Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor and return to his own land. And I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.”’”
In that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A scorching wind from the barren heights in the wilderness [comes at My command] against the daughter of My people—not [a wind] to winnow and not to cleanse [from chaff, as when threshing, but]
Deserts » Mentioned in scripture » Zin
Then the Israelites, the whole congregation, came into the Wilderness of Zin in the first month [in the fortieth year after leaving Egypt]. And the people lived in Kadesh. Miriam died there and was buried there.
because in the Wilderness of Zin, during the strife of the congregation, you rebelled against My command to treat me as holy [by following My instruction] before their eyes at the water.” (These are the waters of Meribah in Kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin.)
Deserts » Described as » Uncultivated
“Go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord,
Your time of betrothal [like that of a bride during the early years in Egypt and again at Sinai],
When you followed Me in the wilderness,
Through a land not sown.
Why have you made us come up from Egypt, to bring us to this wretched place? It is not a place of grain or of figs or of vines or of pomegranates, and there is no water to drink.”
Deserts » Illustrative of » The gentiles
“I will put the cedar in the wilderness,
The acacia, the myrtle and the olive tree;
I will place the juniper in the desert
Together with the box tree and the cypress,
The Arabah (desert) will shout in exultation and blossom
Like the
Deserts » Parts of, afforded pasture
These are the sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah. This is the Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness as he pastured the donkeys of Zibeon his father.
Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro (Reuel) his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb (Sinai), the mountain of God.
Deserts » The disaffected fled to
Everyone who was suffering hardship, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him; and he became captain over them. There were about four hundred men with him.
Then you are not [as I assumed] the Egyptian who
Deserts » Uninhabited places
When evening came, the disciples came to Him and said, “This is an isolated place and the hour is already late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”
He said to them,
Deserts » Infested with wild beasts
He was in the wilderness forty days being tempted [to do evil] by Satan; and He was with the wild animals, and the angels ministered continually to Him.
But desert creatures will lie down there,
And their houses will be full of owls;
Ostriches also will live there, and
Deserts » Vast barren plains
So they gathered them up, and they filled twelve large baskets with pieces from the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten.
Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please, let us go on a three days’ journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God, so that He does not discipline us with pestilence or with the sword.”
Deserts » Mentioned in scripture » Jeruel
Go down against them tomorrow. Behold, they will come up by the ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the river valley, in front of the Wilderness of Jeruel.
Deserts » Mentioned in scripture » Ziph
David remained in the wilderness strongholds in the hill country of the Wilderness of Ziph. Saul sought him every day, but God did not give him into his hands. David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life. David was in the Wilderness of Ziph in the wood [at Horesh].
Deserts » Mentioned in scripture » Maon
So they arose and went to Ziph ahead of Saul. Now David and his men were in the Wilderness of Maon, in the Arabah south of Jeshimon. Saul and his men went to seek him. And David was told; so he went down to the rock in the Wilderness of Maon and stayed. When Saul heard that, he pursued David in the Wilderness of Maon.
Deserts » Described as » Waste and howling
“He found him in a desert land,
In the howling wasteland of a wilderness;
He kept circling him, He took care of him,
He protected him as the
Deserts » Mentioned in scripture » Kedemoth
“So I sent messengers from the Wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying,
Deserts » Described as » Great and terrible
“Then we set out from Horeb (Sinai), and went through all that great and terrible wilderness which you saw on the way to the hill country of the
Deserts » Inhabited by wandering tribes
And God was with the youth, and he developed; and he dwelt in the wilderness and became an archer. He dwelt in the Wilderness of Paran; and his mother took a wife for him out of the land of Egypt.
Deserts » Infested with serpents
He led you through the great and terrible wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water; it was He who brought water for you out of the flinty rock.
Deserts » Phenomena of, alluded to » Mirage or deceptive appearance of water
Why has my pain been perpetual
And my wound incurable, refusing to be healed?
Will you indeed be to me like a deceptive brook
With water that is unreliable?
Deserts » Mentioned in scripture » Damascus
The Lord
Deserts » Mentioned in scripture » En-gedi
When Saul returned from following the Philistines, he was told, “Behold, David is in the
Deserts » Mentioned in scripture » gibeon
But Joab and Abishai [Asahel’s brothers] pursued Abner. When the sun was going down, they came to the hill of Ammah, which is in front of Giah on the way to the wilderness of Gibeon.
Deserts » Mentioned in scripture » Sinai
In the third month after the Israelites left the land of Egypt, the same day, they came into the Wilderness of Sinai. When they had departed from Rephidim and had come to the Wilderness of Sinai, they encamped there before the mountain.
Deserts » Illustrative of » What affords no support
“O generation [that you are], consider and regard carefully the word of the Lord.
Have I been a wilderness to Israel [like a land without food],
A land of thick and deep darkness [like a path without light]?
Why do My people say, ‘We [have broken loose and we] are free to roam [at will];
We will no longer come to You’?
Deserts » Heath often found in
“For he will be like a shrub in the [parched] desert;
And shall not see prosperity when it comes,
But shall live in the rocky places of the wilderness,
In an uninhabited salt land.
Deserts » Mentioned in scripture » Arabian or great desert
I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines (the Mediterranean), and from the wilderness to the River Euphrates; for I will hand over the residents of the land to you, and you shall drive them out before you.
Deserts » Mentioned in scripture » Of the red sea
But God led the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the
Deserts » Mentioned in scripture » Beth-aven
On the north side their border began at the Jordan, then it went up the slope of Jericho on the north, and up through the hill country westward, and it ended at the Beth-aven wilderness.
Deserts » Mentioned in scripture » Shur
But
Deserts » Described as » Uninhabited and lonesome
“They did not say, ‘Where is the Lord
Who 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 through
And where no man lived?’
Deserts » Described as » Trackless
“Listen carefully, I am about to do a new thing,
Now it will spring forth;
Will you not be aware of it?
I will even put a road in the wilderness,
Rivers in the desert.
Deserts » Described as » Desolate
And I will stretch out My hand against them and make the land a more desolate waste than the wilderness toward Diblah [the Moabite city], throughout all the places where they live; and they will know [without any doubt] that I am the Lord.”’”
Deserts » Phenomena of, alluded to » Tornadoes or whirlwinds
The [mournful, inspired] oracle (
So it (God’s judgment) comes from the desert, from [the hostile armies of] a terrifying land.
Deserts » Mentioned in scripture » Judea
In those days
Deserts » Mentioned in scripture » Edom
Jehoram said, “Which way shall we go up?” Jehoshaphat answered, “The way through the Wilderness of Edom.”
Deserts » Mentioned in scripture » Sin
They set out from Elim, and all the congregation of Israel came to the Wilderness of
Deserts » Mentioned in scripture » Kadesh
The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;
The Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
Deserts » Mentioned in scripture » Near gaza
But an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go south to the road that runs from Jerusalem down to Gaza.” (This is a desert road).
Deserts » Illustrative of » Those deprived of all blessings
Or I will strip her naked
And expose her as on the day she was born,
And make her like a wilderness
And make her like a parched land
And slay her with thirst.
Lions » Inhabits » Deserts
A [mournful, inspired] oracle (
From
They carry their riches on the shoulders of young donkeys
And their treasures on the humps of camels,
To a people (Egyptians) who cannot benefit them.
Serpents » Infest » Deserts
He led you through the great and terrible wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water; it was He who brought water for you out of the flinty rock.
Topics on Deserts
Deserts Used Figuratively
Jeremiah 2:31
“O generation [that you are], consider and regard carefully the word of the Lord.
Have I been a wilderness to Israel [like a land without food],
A land of thick and deep darkness [like a path without light]?
Why do My people say, ‘We [have broken loose and we] are free to roam [at will];
We will no longer come to You’?
Deserts, Specific
Genesis 21:14So Abraham got up early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder, and gave her the boy, and sent her