'Waste' in the Bible

He said, I am the voice of one crying in the waste land, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said Isaiah the prophet.

As the snake was lifted up by Moses in the waste land, even so it is necessary for the Son of man to be lifted up:

Our fathers had the manna in the waste land, as the Writings say, He gave them bread from heaven.

Your fathers took the manna in the waste land--and they are dead.

So Jesus no longer went about publicly among the Jews, but went from there into the country near to the waste land, to a town named Ephraim, where he was for some time with the disciples.