'Waste' in the Bible

Those who survive in the lands of your enemies will waste away because of their sin; they will also waste away because of their fathers’ sins along with theirs.

All its soil will be a burning waste of sulfur and salt, unsown, producing nothing, with no plant growing on it, just like the fall of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord demolished in His fierce anger.

For the Midianites came with their cattle and their tents like a great swarm of locusts. They and their camels were without number, and they entered the land to waste it.

Joab said, “I’m not going to waste time with you!” He then took three spears in his hand and thrust them into Absalom’s heart while he was still alive in the oak tree,

Indeed, my life is consumed with griefand my years with groaning;my strength has failedbecause of my sinfulness,and my bones waste away.

Like sheep they are headed for Sheol;Death will shepherd them.The upright will rule over them in the morning,and their form will waste away in Sheol,far from their lofty abode.

You will vomit the little you’ve eatenand waste your pleasant words.

The earth mourns and withers;the world wastes away and withers;the exalted people of the earth waste away.

From the ends of the earth we hear songs:The Splendor of the Righteous One.But I said, “I waste away! I waste away!Woe is me.”The treacherous act treacherously;the treacherous deal very treacherously.

I will lay waste mountains and hillsand dry up all their vegetation.I will turn rivers into islandsand dry up marshes.

For your waste and desolate placesand your land marked by ruins—will now be indeed too small for the inhabitants,and those who swallowed you up will be far away.

For the Lord will comfort Zion;He will comfort all her waste places,and He will make her wilderness like Eden,and her desert like the garden of the Lord.Joy and gladness will be found in her,thanksgiving and melodious song.

The young lions have roared at him;they have roared loudly.They have laid waste his land.His cities are in ruins, without inhabitants.

A lion has gone up from his thicket;a destroyer of nations has set out.He has left his lairto make your land a waste.Your cities will be reduced to uninhabited ruins.

I will remove from the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem the sound of joy and gladness and the voices of the groom and the bride, for the land will become a desolate waste.

The Lord can no longer bear your evil deeds and the detestable acts you have committed, so your land has become a waste, a desolation, and an object of cursing, without inhabitant, as you see today.

ח KhetThe Lord determined to destroythe wall of Daughter Zion.He stretched out a measuring lineand did not restrain Himself from destroying.He made the ramparts and walls grieve;together they waste away.

ט TetThose slain by the sword are better offthan those slain by hunger,who waste away, pierced with painbecause the fields lack produce.

So they will lack bread and water; everyone will be devastated and waste away because of their iniquity.

I will stretch out My hand against them, and wherever they live I will make the land a desolate waste, from the wilderness to Diblah. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.”

Your turbans will remain on your heads and your sandals on your feet. You will not lament or weep but will waste away because of your sins and will groan to one another.

Say to the Ammonites: Hear the word of the Lord God: This is what the Lord God says: Because you said, ‘Good!’ about My sanctuary when it was desecrated, about the land of Israel when it was laid waste, and about the house of Judah when they went into exile,

therefore, I am against you and your Nile. I will turn the land of Egypt into ruins, a desolate waste from Migdol to Syene, as far as the border of Cush.

I will make the land a desolate waste, and its proud strength will come to an end. The mountains of Israel will become desolate, with no one passing through.

They will know that I am Yahweh when I make the land a desolate waste because of all the detestable acts they have committed.

Say to it: This is what the Lord God says:Look! I am against you, Mount Seir.I will stretch out My hand against youand make you a desolate waste.

I will make Mount Seir a desolate waste and will cut off from it those who come and go.

I have cut off nations;their corner towers are destroyed.I have laid waste their streets,with no one to pass through.Their cities lie devastated,without a person, without an inhabitant.

“Look, I am going to rebuke your descendants, and I will spread animal waste over your faces, the waste from your festival sacrifices, and you will be taken away with it.

When the disciples saw it, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked.

He told the vineyard worker, ‘Listen, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it even waste the soil?’