'Desolation' in the Bible

I will lay waste your cities as well and will make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will not smell your sweet and soothing aromas [of offerings by fire].

I will make the land desolate, and your enemies who settle in it will be appalled at it.

So Joshua burned Ai and made it a rubbish heap forever, a desolation until this day.

because your heart was tender (receptive, penitent) and you humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I said against this place and against its inhabitants, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and because you have torn your clothes and wept before Me, I have heard you,” declares the Lord.

Do not be like your fathers and your brothers, who were unfaithful to the Lord God of their fathers, so that He made them a horror (lifeless, desolate), just as you see.

“They are gaunt with want and famine;They gnaw the dry and barren ground by night in [the gloom of] waste and desolation.

May their encampment be desolate;May no one dwell in their tents.

How they are destroyed in a moment!They are completely swept away by sudden terrors!

When your dread and panic come like a storm,And your disaster comes like a whirlwind,When anxiety and distress come upon you [as retribution].

The Daughter of Zion (Jerusalem) is left like a [deserted] shelter in a vineyard,Like a watchman’s hut in a cucumber field, like a besieged city [isolated, surrounded by devastation].

Now in that day [because of the poverty caused by the invaders] a man will keep alive only a young milk cow and two sheep;

Now what will you do in the day of [God’s] punishment,And in the storm of devastation which will come from far away?To whom will you flee for help?And where will you leave your wealth [for safekeeping]?

Listen carefully, the day of the Lord is coming,Cruel, with wrath and raging anger,To make the land a horror [of devastation];And He shall exterminate its sinners from it.

In that day the strong cities of Aram and Israel will be like deserted places in the forest,Or like branches which they abandoned before the children of Israel;And the land will be a desolation.

Horrible desolation is left in the city,And the gate is battered into ruins.

“Therefore disaster will come on you;You will not know how to make it disappear [with your magic].And disaster will fall on youFor which you cannot atone [with all your offerings to your gods];And destruction about which you do not knowWill come on you suddenly.

These two tragedies have befallen you;Who will show sympathy for you and mourn with you?The desolation and destruction [on the land and city], famine and sword [on the inhabitants];How shall I comfort you?

Their feet run to evil,And they rush to shed innocent blood.Their thoughts are thoughts of wickedness [of sin, of injustice, of wrongdoing];Devastation and destruction are in their highways.

Your holy cities have become a wilderness,Zion has become a wilderness,Jerusalem a desolation.

Therefore says the Lord,“The whole land shall be a desolation,Yet I will not cause total destruction.

“An appalling and horrible thing [bringing desolation and destruction]Has come to pass in the land:

“Be wise and be warned, O Jerusalem,Or I will be alienated from you,And make you a desolation,An uninhabited land.”

“I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins,A haunt and dwelling place of jackals;And I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.”

The sound of a report! Behold, [the invader] comes—A great commotion from the country of the north (Babylonia)—To make the cities of JudahA desolation, a haunt and dwelling place of jackals.

“They have made it a wasteland,Desolate, it mourns before Me;The whole land has been made a wasteland,Because no man takes it to heart.

Making their land a desolation and a horror,A thing to be hissed at perpetually;Everyone who passes by will be astoundedAnd shake his head [in scorn].

But if you will not hear and obey these words, I swear [an oath] by Myself,” says the Lord, “that this house will become a desolation.”’”

Jerusalem and the cities of Judah [being most guilty because their privileges were greatest], its kings and princes, to make them a horror, a ruin, a hissing and a curse, as it is to this day;

Behold, I am going to command [the Chaldeans who rule Babylon],’ says the Lord, ‘and I will bring them back to this city; and they will fight against it and take it and set it on fire. I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without inhabitant.’”

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘You have seen all the disaster that I have brought on Jerusalem and on all the cities of Judah; and see, this day they are desolated and no one lives in them

The Lord could no longer endure it, because of the evil of your acts and the repulsive acts which you have committed; because of them your land has become a ruin, an object of horror and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is this day.

“The sound of an outcry from Horonaim,‘Desolation and great destruction!’

“Hazor will become a haunt and dwelling place of jackals,A desolation forever;No one will live there,Nor will a son of man reside in it.”

“How the hammer of the whole earthIs crushed and broken!How Babylon has becomeA horror [of desolation] among the nations!

The land trembles and writhes [in pain and sorrow],For the purposes of the Lord against Babylon stand,To make the land of BabylonA desolation without inhabitants.

“Babylon will become a heap [of ruins], a haunt and dwelling place of jackals,An object of horror (an astonishing desolation) and a hissing [of scorn and amazement], without inhabitants.

“How Sheshak (Babylon) has been captured,And the praise of the whole earth been seized!How Babylon has become an astonishing desolation and an object of horror among the nations!

“Her cities have become an astonishing desolation and an object of horror,A parched land and a desert,A land in which no one lives,And through which no son of man passes.

Moreover, I will make you a desolation and a disgrace among the nations which surround you and in the sight of all who pass by.

The king [of Judah] will mourn and the prince (Zedekiah) will be clothed with [garments of] despair and anguish, and the hands of the people of the land shall tremble [in terror]. I will deal with them in accordance with their conduct, and by their judgments I will judge them. And they will know [without any doubt] that I am the Lord.’”

The cities that are inhabited will be in ruins and the land will be deserted; and you will know [without any doubt] that I am the Lord.”’”

‘You shall be filled with drunkenness and sorrow,With the cup of horror and desolation,With the cup of your sister Samaria.

and the land of Egypt will be a desolation and a wasteland. And they will know [without any doubt] that I am the Lord.“Because you said, ‘The Nile is mine and I have made it,’

behold (hear this), therefore, I am against you and against your rivers (the Nile, its tributaries), and I will make the land of Egypt a complete waste and a desolation, from [northern] Migdol to [southern] Syene, even as far as the border of Ethiopia (Cush).

So I will make the land of Egypt a desolation [plundered and ruined] among desolated lands; and her cities, among cities that are laid waste, will be desolate forty years. I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and [I will] disperse them through the lands.”

And I will make the land [of Israel] a desolation and a ruin, and her pride in her power will be brought to an end; and the mountains of Israel will be so deserted that no one will pass through.

Then they will know [without any doubt] that I am the Lord, when I make the land a desolation and a ruin because of all the atrocities which they have committed.”’

and say to it, ‘Thus says the Lord God,“Behold, Mount Seir, I am against you,And I will stretch out My hand against youAnd make you completely desolate.

I will make Mount Seir (Edom) a ruin and a desolate wasteland and I will cut off from it the one who passes through it and the one who returns.

I will make you an everlasting desolation and your cities will not be inhabited. Then you will know [without any doubt] that I am the Lord.

Thus says the Lord God, “While the whole earth rejoices, I will make you a wasteland.

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 desolate waste, O Mount Seir, and all Edom, all of it. Then they will know [without any doubt] that I am the Lord.”’

therefore prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “For good reason they have made you a desolation, and they crushed you from every side so that you would become a possession of the rest of the nations and you have become the talk and the whispering of the people.”’”

Ephraim will become a desolation in the day of rebuke;Among the tribes of Israel I declare what is certain.

Egypt will become a waste,And Edom will become a desolate wilderness,Because of their violence against the children of Judah,In whose land they have shed innocent blood.

“For [you have kept] the statutes of Omri [the idolatrous king],And all the works of the [wicked] house (dynasty) of Ahab;And you walk in their counsels and policies.Therefore, I shall hand you over for destruction and horrorAnd your [city’s] inhabitants for ridicule,And you shall bear the rebuke and scorn of My people.”

She is emptied! She is desolate and waste!Hearts melting [in fear] and knees knocking!Anguish is in the whole body,And the faces of all grow pale!

“Furthermore, their wealth will become plunderAnd their houses a desolation.Yes, they will build houses but not live in them,And plant vineyards but not drink their wine.”

For [this is the fate of the Philistines:] Gaza will be abandonedAnd Ashkelon a desolation;[The people of] Ashdod will be driven out at noon [in broad daylight]And Ekron will be uprooted and destroyed.

“Therefore, as I live,” declares the Lord of hosts,The God of Israel,“Moab will in fact become like SodomAnd the sons of Ammon like Gomorrah,A land possessed by nettles and salt pits,And a perpetual desolation.The remnant of My people will plunder themAnd what is left of My nation will inherit them [as their own].”

And the Lord will stretch out His hand against the northAnd destroy Assyria,And He will make Nineveh a desolation [a wasteland],Parched as the desert.

Flocks will lie down in her midst,All the animals which range in herds;Both the pelican and the short-eared owlWill roost on the top of Nineveh’s pillars.Birds will sing in the window,Desolation will be on the threshold;For He has uncovered the cedar paneling.

This is the joyous cityWhich dwells carelessly [feeling so secure],Who says in her heart,“I am, and there is no one besides me.”What a desolation she has become,A lair for [wild] animals!Everyone who passes by her will hiss [in scorn]And wave his hand in contempt.

Knowing their thoughts Jesus said to them, “Any kingdom that is divided against itself is being laid waste; and no city or house divided against itself will [continue to] stand.

“But when you see the abomination of desolation standing [in the temple sanctuary] where it ought not to be (let the reader understand) then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains.

But He, well aware of their thoughts and purpose, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is doomed to destruction; and a house divided against itself falls.

“But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by [hostile] armies, then understand [with confident assurance] that her complete destruction is near.