'Desolate' in the Bible
Your land lies desolate [because of your disobedience],Your cities are burned with fire,Your fields—strangers are devouring them in your very presence;It is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.
And Jerusalem’s gates will lament (cry out in grief) and mourn [as those who wail for the dead];And she, being ruined and desolate, will sit upon the ground.
In my ears the Lord of hosts said, “Be assured that many houses will become desolate,Even great and beautiful ones will be unoccupied.
Then the lambs will graze [among the ruins] as in their own pasture,And strangers will eat in the desolate places of the [exiled] wealthy.
Then I said, “Lord, how long?” And He answered,“Until cities are devastated and without inhabitant,And houses are without peopleAnd the land is utterly desolate,
These [armies, like flies and bees] will all come and settle on the steep and rugged ravines and in the clefts of the rocks, and on all the thorn bushes and in all the watering places.
This is what the Lord says,“In a favorable time I have answered You,And in a day of salvation I have helped You;And I will keep watch over You and give You for a covenant of the people,To restore the land [from its present state of ruin] and to apportion and give as inheritances the deserted hereditary lands,
“For your ruins and desolate places and your land [once the scene] of destruction—Certainly now [in the coming years] will be too cramped for the inhabitants,And those who once engulfed you will be far away.
“Shout for joy, O barren one, she who has not given birth;Break forth into joyful shouting and rejoice, she who has not gone into labor [with child]!For the [spiritual] sons of the desolate one will be more numerousThan the sons of the married woman,” says the Lord.
“For you will spread out to the right and to the left;And your descendants will take possession of nationsAnd will inhabit deserted cities.
It will no longer be said of you [Judah], “Azubah (Abandoned),”Nor will it any longer be said of your land, “Shemamah (Desolate)”;But you will be called, “Hephzibah (My Delight is in Her),”And your land, “Married”;For the Lord delights in you,And to Him your land will be married [owned and protected by the Lord].