'Desolation' in the Bible
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.