'Desolate' in the Bible
Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for food, and we and our land will be slaves to Pharaoh. So give us seed, that we may live and not die, and that the land may not be desolate.”
I will not drive them out before you in a single year, that the land may not become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you.
I will lay waste your cities as well and will make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will not smell your soothing aromas.
I will make the land desolate so that your enemies who settle in it will be appalled over it.
You, however, I will scatter among the nations and will draw out a sword after you, as your land becomes desolate and your cities become waste.
For the land will be abandoned by them, and will make up for its sabbaths while it is made desolate without them. They, meanwhile, will be making amends for their iniquity, because they rejected My ordinances and their soul abhorred My statutes.
Then Absalom her brother said to her, “Has Amnon your brother been with you? But now keep silent, my sister, he is your brother; do not take this matter to heart.” So Tamar remained and was desolate in her brother Absalom’s house.
I said to the king, “Let the king live forever. Why should my face not be sad when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies desolate and its gates have been consumed by fire?”
Then I said to them, “You see the bad situation we are in, that Jerusalem is desolate and its gates burned by fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem so that we will no longer be a reproach.”
“He has lived in desolate cities,In houses no one would inhabit,Which are destined to become ruins.
To satisfy the waste and desolate landAnd to make the seeds of grass to sprout?
May their camp be desolate;May none dwell in their tents.
Your land is desolate,Your cities are burned with fire,Your fields—strangers are devouring them in your presence;It is desolation, as overthrown by strangers.
In my ears the Lord of hosts has sworn, “Surely, many houses shall become desolate,Even great and fine ones, without occupants.
Then I said, “Lord, how long?” And He answered,“Until cities are devastated and without inhabitant,Houses are without peopleAnd the land is utterly desolate,
For the waters of Nimrim are desolate.Surely the grass is withered, the tender grass died out,There is no green thing.
The highways are desolate, the traveler has ceased,He has broken the covenant, he has despised the cities,He has no regard for man.
It will not be quenched night or day;Its smoke will go up forever.From generation to generation it will be desolate;None will pass through it forever and ever.
Thus says the Lord,“In a favorable time I have answered You,And in a day of salvation I have helped You;And I will keep You and give You for a covenant of the people,To restore the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritages;
“For your waste and desolate places and your destroyed land—Surely now you will be too cramped for the inhabitants,And those who swallowed you will be far away.
“Shout for joy, O barren one, you who have borne no child;Break forth into joyful shouting and cry aloud, you who have not travailed;For the sons of the desolate one will be more numerousThan the sons of the married woman,” says the Lord.
“For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left.And your descendants will possess nationsAnd will resettle the desolate cities.
It will no longer be said to you, “Forsaken,”Nor to your land will it any longer be said, “Desolate”;But you will be called, “My delight is in her,”And your land, “Married”;For the Lord delights in you,And to Him your land will be married.
“Be appalled, O heavens, at this,And shudder, be very desolate,” declares the Lord.
And you, O desolate one, what will you do?Although you dress in scarlet,Although you decorate yourself with ornaments of gold,Although you enlarge your eyes with paint,In vain you make yourself beautiful.Your lovers despise you;They seek your life.
“Many shepherds have ruined My vineyard,They have trampled down My field;They have made My pleasant fieldA desolate wilderness.
“It has been made a desolation,Desolate, it mourns before Me;The whole land has been made desolate,Because no man lays it to heart.
Why have you prophesied in the name of the Lord saying, ‘This house will be like Shiloh and this city will be desolate, without inhabitant’?” And all the people gathered about Jeremiah in the house of the Lord.
“Thus says the Lord, ‘Yet again there will be heard in this place, of which you say, “It is a waste, without man and without beast,” that is, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without beast,
From the outcry at Heshbon even to Elealeh, even to Jahaz they have raised their voice, from Zoar even to Horonaim and to Eglath-shelishiyah; for even the waters of Nimrim will become desolate.
“Therefore behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord,“That I will cause a trumpet blast of war to be heardAgainst Rabbah of the sons of Ammon;And it will become a desolate heap,And her towns will be set on fire.Then Israel will take possession of his possessors,”Says the Lord.
Therefore hear the plan of the Lord which He has planned against Edom, and His purposes which He has purposed against the inhabitants of Teman: surely they will drag them off, even the little ones of the flock; surely He will make their pasture desolate because of them.
“Because of the indignation of the Lord she will not be inhabited,But she will be completely desolate;Everyone who passes by Babylon will be horrifiedAnd will hiss because of all her wounds.
Therefore hear the plan of the Lord which He has planned against Babylon, and His purposes which He has purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: surely they will drag them off, even the little ones of the flock; surely He will make their pasture desolate because of them.
“They will not take from you even a stone for a cornerNor a stone for foundations,But you will be desolate forever,” declares the Lord.
The roads of Zion are in mourningBecause no one comes to the appointed feasts.All her gates are desolate;Her priests are groaning,Her virgins are afflicted,And she herself is bitter.
“From on high He sent fire into my bones,And it prevailed over them.He has spread a net for my feet;He has turned me back;He has made me desolate,Faint all day long.
“For these things I weep;My eyes run down with water;Because far from me is a comforter,One who restores my soul.My children are desolateBecause the enemy has prevailed.”
He has turned aside my ways and torn me to pieces;He has made me desolate.
Those who ate delicaciesAre desolate in the streets;Those reared in purpleEmbrace ash pits.
So your altars will become desolate and your incense altars will be smashed; and I will make your slain fall in front of your idols.
In all your dwellings, cities will become waste and the high places will be desolate, that your altars may become waste and desolate, your idols may be broken and brought to an end, your incense altars may be cut down, and your works may be blotted out.
So throughout all their habitations I will stretch out My hand against them and make the land more desolate and waste than the wilderness toward Diblah; thus they will know that I am the Lord.”’”
“If I were to cause wild beasts to pass through the land and they depopulated it, and it became desolate so that no one would pass through it because of the beasts,
though these three men were in its midst, as I live,” declares the Lord God, “they could not deliver either their sons or their daughters. They alone would be delivered, but the country would be desolate.
Thus I will make the land desolate, because they have acted unfaithfully,’” declares the Lord God.
and I pronounced them unclean because of their gifts, in that they caused all their firstborn to pass through the fire so that I might make them desolate, in order that they might know that I am the Lord.”’
and say to the sons of Ammon, ‘Hear the word of the Lord God! Thus says the Lord God, “Because you said, ‘Aha!’ against My sanctuary when it was profaned, and against the land of Israel when it was made desolate, and against the house of Judah when they went into exile,
For thus says the Lord God, “When I make you a desolate city, like the cities which are not inhabited, when I bring up the deep over you and the great waters cover you,
So I will make the land of Egypt a desolation in the midst of desolated lands. And her cities, in the midst of cities that are laid waste, will be desolate forty years; and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them among the lands.”
“They will be desolateIn the midst of the desolated lands;And her cities will beIn the midst of the devastated cities.
“Moreover, I will make the Nile canals dryAnd sell the land into the hands of evil men.And I will make the land desolateAnd all that is in it,By the hand of strangers; I the Lord have spoken.”
“I will make Pathros desolate,Set a fire in ZoanAnd execute judgments on Thebes.
I will make the land a desolation and a waste, and the pride of her power will cease; and the mountains of Israel will be desolate so that no one will pass through.
Then you will know that I, the Lord, have heard all your revilings which you have spoken against the mountains of Israel saying, ‘They are laid desolate; they are given to us for food.’
As you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel because it was desolate, so I will do to you. You will be a desolation, O Mount Seir, and all Edom, all of it. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”’
therefore prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “For good reason they have made you desolate and crushed you from every side, that you would become a possession of the rest of the nations and you have been taken up in the talk and the whispering of the people.”’”
Therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God. Thus says the Lord God to the mountains and to the hills, to the ravines and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes and to the forsaken cities which have become a prey and a derision to the rest of the nations which are round about,
The desolate land will be cultivated instead of being a desolation in the sight of everyone who passes by.
They will say, ‘This desolate land has become like the garden of Eden; and the waste, desolate and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited.’
Then the nations that are left round about you will know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted that which was desolate; I, the Lord, have spoken and will do it.”
So now, our God, listen to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplications, and for Your sake, O Lord, let Your face shine on Your desolate sanctuary.
And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.”
The seeds shrivel under their clods;The storehouses are desolate,The barns are torn down,For the grain is dried up.
A fire consumes before themAnd behind them a flame burns.The land is like the garden of Eden before themBut a desolate wilderness behind them,And nothing at all escapes them.
“But I will remove the northern army far from you,And I will drive it into a parched and desolate land,And its vanguard into the eastern sea,And its rear guard into the western sea.And its stench will arise and its foul smell will come up,For it has done great things.”
Egypt will become a waste,And Edom will become a desolate wilderness,Because of the violence done to the sons of Judah,In whose land they have shed innocent blood.
All of her idols will be smashed,All of her earnings will be burned with fireAnd all of her images I will make desolate,For she collected them from a harlot’s earnings,And to the earnings of a harlot they will return.
And the earth will become desolate because of her inhabitants,On account of the fruit of their deeds.
She is emptied! Yes, she is desolate and waste!Hearts are melting and knees knocking!Also anguish is in the whole bodyAnd all their faces are grown pale!
“Moreover, their wealth will become plunderAnd their houses desolate;Yes, they will build houses but not inhabit them,And plant vineyards but not drink their wine.”
“I have cut off nations;Their corner towers are in ruins.I have made their streets desolate,With no one passing by;Their cities are laid waste,Without a man, without an inhabitant.
“Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house lies desolate?”
“You look for much, but behold, it comes to little; when you bring it home, I blow it away. Why?” declares the Lord of hosts, “Because of My house which lies desolate, while each of you runs to his own house.
“but I scattered them with a storm wind among all the nations whom they have not known. Thus the land is desolated behind them so that no one went back and forth, for they made the pleasant land desolate.”