'Waste' in the Bible

Then the Lord did so. And there came great swarms of flies into the house of Pharaoh and the houses of his servants and the land was laid waste because of the swarms of flies in all the land of Egypt.

I, in turn, will do this to you: I will appoint over you a sudden terror, consumption and fever that will waste away the eyes and cause the soul to pine away; also, you will sow your seed uselessly, for your enemies will eat it up.

I will lay waste your cities as well and will make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will not smell your soothing aromas.

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.

(then the priest shall have the woman swear with the oath of the curse, and the priest shall say to the woman), “the Lord make you a curse and an oath among your people by the Lord’s making your thigh waste away and your abdomen swell;

and this water that brings a curse shall go into your stomach, and make your abdomen swell and your thigh waste away.” And the woman shall say, “Amen. Amen.”

When he has made her drink the water, then it shall come about, if she has defiled herself and has been unfaithful to her husband, that the water which brings a curse will go into her and cause bitterness, and her abdomen will swell and her thigh will waste away, and the woman will become a curse among her people.

“But we have cast them down,Heshbon is ruined as far as Dibon,Then we have laid waste even to Nophah,Which reaches to Medeba.”

‘All its land is brimstone and salt, a burning waste, unsown and unproductive, and no grass grows in it, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in His anger and in His wrath.’

“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.

Then Joab said, “I will not waste time here with you.” So he took three spears in his hand and thrust them through the heart of Absalom while he was yet alive in the midst of the oak.

I will appoint a place for My people Israel, and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and not be moved again; and the wicked will not waste them anymore as formerly,

so that a search may be made in the record books of your fathers. And you will discover in the record books and learn that that city is a rebellious city and damaging to kings and provinces, and that they have incited revolt within it in past days; therefore that city was laid waste.

“I waste away; I will not live forever.Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath.

“He deprives of intelligence the chiefs of the earth’s peopleAnd makes them wander in a pathless waste.

“But now He has exhausted me;You have laid waste all my company.

“From want and famine they are gauntWho gnaw the dry ground by night in waste and desolation,

To satisfy the waste and desolate landAnd to make the seeds of grass to sprout?

For they have devoured JacobAnd laid waste his habitation.

Of the pestilence that stalks in darkness,Or of the destruction that lays waste at noon.

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

A fruitful land into a salt waste,Because of the wickedness of those who dwell in it.

He pours contempt upon princesAnd makes them wander in a pathless waste.

You will vomit up the morsel you have eaten,And waste your compliments.

“I will lay it waste;It will not be pruned or hoed,But briars and thorns will come up.I will also charge the clouds to rain no rain on it.”

Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture,And strangers will eat in the waste places of the wealthy.

Behold, the Lord lays the earth waste, devastates it, distorts its surface and scatters its inhabitants.

The earth will be completely laid waste and completely despoiled, for the Lord has spoken this word.

“I will lay waste the mountains and hillsAnd wither all their vegetation;I will make the rivers into coastlandsAnd dry up the ponds.

For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens (He is the God who formed the earth and made it, He established it and did not create it a waste place, but formed it to be inhabited),“I am the Lord, and there is none else.

“I have not spoken in secret,In some dark land;I did not say to the offspring of Jacob,‘Seek Me in a waste place’;I, the Lord, speak righteousness,Declaring things that are upright.

“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.

Indeed, the Lord will comfort Zion;He will comfort all her waste places.And her wilderness He will make like Eden,And her desert like the garden of the Lord;Joy and gladness will be found in her,Thanksgiving and sound of a melody.

Break forth, shout joyfully together,You waste places of Jerusalem;For the Lord has comforted His people,He has redeemed Jerusalem.

“The young lions have roared at him,They have roared loudly.And they have made his land a waste;His cities have been destroyed, without inhabitant.

“A lion has gone up from his thicket,And a destroyer of nations has set out;He has gone out from his placeTo make your land a waste.Your cities will be ruinsWithout inhabitant.

“For the mountains I will take up a weeping and wailing,And for the pastures of the wilderness a dirge,Because they are laid waste so that no one passes through,And the lowing of the cattle is not heard;Both the birds of the sky and the beasts have fled; they are gone.

Who is the wise man that may understand this? And who is he to whom the mouth of the Lord has spoken, that he may declare it? Why is the land ruined, laid waste like a desert, so that no one passes through?

Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not know YouAnd on the families that do not call Your name;For they have devoured Jacob;They have devoured him and consumed himAnd have laid waste his habitation.

“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,

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘There will again be in this place which is waste, without man or beast, and in all its cities, a habitation of shepherds who rest their flocks.

He has caused my flesh and my skin to waste away,He has broken my bones.

because bread and water will be scarce; and they will be appalled with one another and waste away in their iniquity.

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.”’”

The inhabited cities will be laid waste and the land will be a desolation. So you will know that I am the Lord.”’”

‘He destroyed their fortified towersAnd laid waste their cities;And the land and its fullness were appalledBecause of the sound of his roaring.

therefore thus says the Lord God, “I will also stretch out My hand against Edom and cut off man and beast from it. And I will lay it waste; from Teman even to Dedan they will fall by the sword.

“Son of man, because Tyre has said concerning Jerusalem, ‘Aha, the gateway of the peoples is broken; it has opened to me. I shall be filled, now that she is laid waste,’

then I will bring you down with those who go down to the pit, to the people of old, and I will make you dwell in the lower parts of the earth, like the ancient waste places, with those who go down to the pit, so that you will not be inhabited; but I will set glory in the land of the living.

The land of Egypt will become a desolation and waste. Then they will know that I am the Lord.Because you said, ‘The Nile is mine, and I have made it,’

therefore, behold, I am against you and against your rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt an utter waste and desolation, from Migdol to Syene and even to the border of Ethiopia.

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.”

“Son of man, they who live in these waste places in the land of Israel are saying, ‘Abraham was only one, yet he possessed the land; so to us who are many the land has been given as a possession.’

Thus you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “As I live, surely those who are in the waste places will fall by the sword, and whoever is in the open field I will give to the beasts to be devoured, and those who are in the strongholds and in the caves will die of pestilence.

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 they will know that I am the Lord, when I make the land a desolation and a waste because of all their abominations which they have committed.”’

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

“I will lay waste your citiesAnd you will become a desolation.Then you will know that I am the Lord.

I will make Mount Seir a waste and a desolation and I will cut off from it the one who passes through and returns.

I will multiply men on you, all the house of Israel, all of it; and the cities will be inhabited and the waste places will be rebuilt.

‘Thus says the Lord God, “On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places will be rebuilt.

They will say, ‘This desolate land has become like the garden of Eden; and the waste, desolate and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited.’

Like the flock for sacrifices, like the flock at Jerusalem during her appointed feasts, so will the waste cities be filled with flocks of men. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”’”

After many days you will be summoned; in the latter years you will come into the land that is restored from the sword, whose inhabitants have been gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel which had been a continual waste; but its people were brought out from the nations, and they are living securely, all of them.

to capture spoil and to seize plunder, to turn your hand against the waste places which are now inhabited, and against the people who are gathered from the nations, who have acquired cattle and goods, who live at the center of the world.’

It has made my vine a wasteAnd my fig tree splinters.It has stripped them bare and cast them away;Their branches have become white.

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.

“The high places of Isaac will be desolatedAnd the sanctuaries of Israel laid waste.Then I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”

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!

“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.