'Wilderness' in the Bible

For the Israelites wandered in the wilderness 40 years until all the nation’s men of war who came out of Egypt had died off because they did not obey the Lord. So the Lord vowed never to let them see the land He had sworn to their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.

Joshua and all Israel pretended to be beaten back by them and fled toward the wilderness.

The men of Ai turned and looked back, and smoke from the city was rising to the sky! They could not escape in any direction, and the troops who had fled to the wilderness now became the pursuers.

“As you see, the Lord has kept me alive these 45 years as He promised, since the Lord spoke this word to Moses while Israel was journeying in the wilderness. Here I am today, 85 years old.

Now the allotment for the tribe of the descendants of Judah by their clans was in the southernmost region, south to the Wilderness of Zin and over to the border of Edom.

In the wilderness: Beth-arabah, Middin, Secacah,

The allotment for the descendants of Joseph went from the Jordan at Jericho to the waters of Jericho on the east, through the wilderness ascending from Jericho into the hill country of Bethel.

Their border on the north side began at the Jordan, ascended to the slope of Jericho on the north, through the hill country westward, and ended at the wilderness of Beth-aven.

Across the Jordan east of Jericho, they selected Bezer on the wilderness plateau from Reuben’s tribe, Ramoth in Gilead from Gad’s tribe, and Golan in Bashan from Manasseh’s tribe.

Your fathers cried out to the Lord, so He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea over them, engulfing them. Your own eyes saw what I did to Egypt. After that, you lived in the wilderness a long time.

The descendants of the Kenite, Moses’ father-in-law, had gone up with the men of Judah from the City of Palms to the Wilderness of Judah, which was in the Negev of Arad. They went to live among the people.

Gideon replied, “Very well, when the Lord has handed Zebah and Zalmunna over to me, I will trample your flesh on thorns and briers from the wilderness!”

So he took the elders of the city, and he took some thorns and briers from the wilderness, and he disciplined the men of Succoth with them.

But when they came from Egypt, Israel traveled through the wilderness to the Red Sea and came to Kadesh.

“Then they traveled through the wilderness and around the lands of Edom and Moab. They came to the east side of the land of Moab and camped on the other side of the Arnon but did not enter into the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was the boundary of Moab.

They took possession of all the territory of the Amorites from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan.

They retreated before the men of Israel toward the wilderness, but the battle overtook them, and those who came out of the cities slaughtered those between them.

Then Benjamin turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, and Israel killed 5,000 men on the highways. They overtook them at Gidom and struck 2,000 more dead.

But 600 men escaped into the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon and stayed there four months.

Woe to us, who will rescue us from the hand of these magnificent gods? These are the gods that slaughtered the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness.

The next division headed toward the Beth-horon road, and the last division headed down the border road that looks out over the Valley of Zeboim toward the wilderness.

David’s oldest brother Eliab listened as he spoke to the men, and became angry with him. “Why did you come down here?” he asked. “Who did you leave those few sheep with in the wilderness? I know your arrogance and your evil heart—you came down to see the battle!”

David then stayed in the wilderness strongholds and in the hill country of the Wilderness of Ziph. Saul searched for him every day, but God did not hand David over to him.

David was in the Wilderness of Ziph in Horesh when he saw that Saul had come out to take his life.

So they went to Ziph ahead of Saul.Now David and his men were in the wilderness near Maon in the Arabah south of Jeshimon,

and Saul and his men went to look for him. When David was told about it, he went down to the rock and stayed in the Wilderness of Maon. Saul heard of this and pursued David there.

When Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told, “David is in the wilderness near En-gedi.”

Samuel died, and all Israel assembled to mourn for him, and they buried him by his home in Ramah. David then went down to the Wilderness of Paran.

While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep,

One of Nabal’s young men informed Abigail, Nabal’s wife: “Look, David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, but he yelled at them.

David had just said, “I guarded everything that belonged to this man in the wilderness for nothing. He was not missing anything, yet he paid me back evil for good.

So Saul, accompanied by 3,000 of the choice men of Israel, went to the Wilderness of Ziph to search for David there.

Saul camped beside the road at the hill of Hachilah opposite Jeshimon. David was living in the wilderness and discovered Saul had come there after him.

but Joab and Abishai pursued Abner. By sunset, they had gone as far as the hill of Ammah, which is opposite Giah on the way to the wilderness of Gibeon.

Remember, I’ll wait at the fords of the wilderness until word comes from you to inform me.”

Now send someone quickly and tell David, ‘Don’t spend the night at the wilderness ford of the Jordan, but be sure to cross over, or the king and all the people with him will be destroyed.’”

Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up, struck down Joab, and put him to death. He was buried at his house in the wilderness.

Baalath, Tamar in the Wilderness of Judah,

but he went on a day’s journey into the wilderness. He sat down under a broom tree and prayed that he might die. He said, “I have had enough! Lord, take my life, for I’m no better than my fathers.”

Then the Lord said to him, “Go and return by the way you came to the Wilderness of Damascus. When you arrive, you are to anoint Hazael as king over Aram.

Then he asked, “Which route should we take?”Joram replied, “The route of the Wilderness of Edom.”

Solomon and the whole assembly with him went to the high place that was in Gibeon because God’s tent of meeting, which the Lord’s servant Moses had made in the wilderness, was there.

He built Tadmor in the wilderness along with all the storage cities that he built in Hamath.

Tomorrow, go down against them. You will see them coming up the Ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the valley facing the Wilderness of Jeruel.

In the morning they got up early and went out to the wilderness of Tekoa. As they were about to go out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem. Believe in Yahweh your God, and you will be established; believe in His prophets, and you will succeed.”

When Judah came to a place overlooking the wilderness, they looked for the large army, but there were only corpses lying on the ground; nobody had escaped.

Then a proclamation was issued in Judah and Jerusalem that the tax God’s servant Moses imposed on Israel in the wilderness be brought to the Lord.

You did not abandon them in the wildernessbecause of Your great compassion.During the day the pillar of cloudnever turned away from them,guiding them on their journey.And during the night the pillar of fireilluminated the way they should go.

You provided for them in the wilderness 40 yearsand they lacked nothing.Their clothes did not wear out,and their feet did not swell.

Like wild donkeys in the desert,the poor go out to their task of foraging for food;the wilderness provides nourishment for their children.

I made the wilderness its home,and the salty wasteland its dwelling.

The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.

How far away I would flee;I would stay in the wilderness.Selah

The wilderness pastures overflow,and the hills are robed with joy.

He split rocks in the wildernessand gave them drink as abundant as the depths.

They spoke against God, saying,“Is God able to provide food in the wilderness?

How often they rebelled against Himin the wildernessand grieved Him in the desert.

He led His people out like sheepand guided them like a flock in the wilderness.

Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah,as on that day at Massah in the wilderness

They were seized with craving in the wildernessand tested God in the desert.

Some wandered in the desolate wilderness,finding no way to a city where they could live.

He led His people in the wilderness.        His love is eternal.

Better to live in a wildernessthan with a nagging and hot-tempered wife.

N What is this coming up from the wildernesslike columns of smoke,scented with myrrh and frankincensefrom every fragrant powder of the merchant?

Y Who is this coming up from the wilderness,leaning on the one she loves?W I awakened you under the apricot tree.There your mother conceived you;there she conceived and gave you birth.

who turned the world into a wilderness,who destroyed its citiesand would not release the prisoners to return home?”

For the fortified city will be deserted,pastures abandoned and forsaken like a wilderness.Calves will graze there,and there they will spread out and strip its branches.

Then justice will inhabit the wilderness,and righteousness will dwell in the orchard.

The wilderness and the dry land will be glad;the desert will rejoice and blossom like a rose.

Then the lame will leap like a deer,and the tongue of the mute will sing for joy,for water will gush in the wilderness,and streams in the desert;

A voice of one crying out:Prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness;make a straight highway for our God in the desert.

Look, I am about to do something new;even now it is coming. Do you not see it?Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness,rivers in the desert.

The animals of the field will honor Me,jackals and ostriches,because I provide water in the wilderness,and rivers in the desert,to give drink to My chosen people.

Why was no one there when I came?Why was there no one to answer when I called?Is My hand too short to redeem?Or do I have no power to deliver?Look, I dry up the sea by My rebuke;I turn the rivers into a wilderness;their fish rot because of lack of waterand die of thirst.

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.

and led them through the depthslike a horse in the wilderness,so that they did not stumble.

Your holy cities have become a wilderness;Zion has become a wilderness,Jerusalem a desolation.

“Go and announce directly to Jerusalem that this is what the Lord says:I remember the loyalty of your youth,your love as a bride—how you followed Me in the wilderness,in a land not sown.

They stopped asking, “Where is the Lordwho brought us from the land of Egypt,who led us through the wilderness,through a land of deserts and ravines,through a land of drought and darkness,a land no one traveled throughand where no one lived?”

a wild donkey at home in the wilderness.She sniffs the wind in the heat of her desire.Who can control her passion?All who look for her will not become tired;they will find her in her mating season.

Evil generation,pay attention to the word of the Lord!Have I been a wilderness to Israelor a land of dense darkness?Why do My people claim,“We will go where we want;we will no longer come to You”?

“At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, ‘A searing wind blows from the barren heights in the wilderness on the way to My dear people. It comes not to winnow or to sift;

I looked, and the fertile field was a wilderness.All its cities were torn downbecause of the Lordand His burning anger.

If only I had a traveler’s lodging placein the wilderness,I would abandon my peopleand depart from them,for they are all adulterers,a solemn assembly of treacherous people.

I will raise weeping and a lamentover the mountains,a dirge over the wilderness grazing land,for they have been so scorchedthat no one passes through.The sound of cattle is no longer heard.From the birds of the sky to the animals,everything has fled—they have gone away.

Who is the man wise enough to understand this? Who has the Lord spoken to, that he may explain it? Why is the land destroyed and scorched like a wilderness, so no one can pass through?

Egypt, Judah, Edom, the Ammonites, Moab, and all the inhabitants of the desert who clip the hair on their temples. All these nations are uncircumcised, and the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.”

Over all the barren heights in the wildernessthe destroyers have come,for the Lord has a sword that devoursfrom one end of the earth to the other.No one has peace.

He will be like a juniper in the Arabah;he cannot see when good comesbut dwells in the parched places in the wilderness,in a salt land where no one lives.

For this is what the Lord says concerning the house of the king of Judah:You are like Gilead to Me,or the summit of Lebanon,but I will certainly turn you into a wilderness,uninhabited cities.

For the land is full of adulterers;the land mourns because of the curse,and the grazing lands in the wilderness have dried up.Their way of life has become evil,and their power is not rightly used

This is what the Lord says:They found favor in the wilderness—the people who survived the sword.When Israel went to find rest,

Flee! Save your lives!Be like a juniper bush in the wilderness.

your mother will be utterly humiliated;she who bore you will be put to shame.Look! She will lag behind all the nations—a dry land, a wilderness, an Arabah.

ג GimelEven jackals offer their breaststo nurse their young,but my dear people have become cruellike ostriches in the wilderness.

ק QofThose who chased us were swifterthan eagles in the sky;they relentlessly pursued us over the mountainsand ambushed us in the wilderness.

We secure our food at the risk of our livesbecause of the sword in the wilderness.

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.”

Now it is planted in the wilderness,in a dry and thirsty land.

“So I brought them out of the land of Egypt and led them into the wilderness.