Deserted
Reading a lexicon entry
What this page is: Each lexicon entry shows the original Hebrew or Greek word behind the English translation: its meaning, its range of use, and where it appears in Scripture.
Strong's number: The Strong's code (H- or G-) is the standard reference number for this word. It connects this entry to chapter and passage language tabs.
Where it appears: The witness passages show where this word is used in context. Click any to open the study page for that passage.
This lexicon entry is part of our ongoing editorial review. If you notice missing content, unclear wording, or a possible correction, please send us a note through the Connect page. Screenshots are helpful.
ἔρημος (erēmos) is an adjective meaning deserted, uninhabited, desolate, solitary, or wilderness-like, and it often functions as a noun for a wilderness or lonely place. The New Testament uses it for Judean wilderness, solitary places sought for prayer or rest, desolate locations without food or lodging, Israel's wilderness testing, and an apocalyptic place of refuge.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἔρημος (G2048) · Open the biblical lexicon
ἔρημος (erēmos) is an adjective meaning deserted, uninhabited, desolate, solitary, or wilderness-like, and it often functions as a noun for a wilderness or lonely place. The New Testament uses it for Judean wilderness, solitary places sought for prayer or rest, desolate locations without food or lodging, Israel's wilderness testing, and an apocalyptic place.
The BSB source-word alignment has 48 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include wilderness (30), a solitary (4), a desolate (3), desert (2), [a] solitary (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 3:1. Its strongest book concentrations include Luke (10), Acts (9), Mark (9), Matthew (8).
This entry includes 1 verse guide that explain exact original-language forms in context.
ἔρημος (erēmos) is an adjective meaning deserted, uninhabited, desolate, solitary, or wilderness-like, and it often functions as a noun for a wilderness or lonely place. The New Testament uses it for Judean wilderness, solitary places sought for prayer or rest, desolate locations without food or lodging, Israel's wilderness testing, and an apocalyptic place of refuge.
John the Baptist preaches in the wilderness, fulfilling the voice imagery of Isaiah. Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, yet the Spirit's leading does not make the temptation good or the devil God's agent of holiness. Jesus also withdraws to solitary places to pray and invites exhausted disciples to rest privately, although needy crowds soon interrupt the retreat.
In a desolate place, He feeds the multitude, showing provision where the disciples see only scarcity. Hebrews recalls the wilderness rebellion to warn hearers against hardening their hearts. Revelation pictures God preparing a wilderness place where the woman is nourished amid persecution. These scenes prevent a single “wilderness season” formula. Wilderness can be preparation, testing, prayer, rest, scarcity, unbelief, refuge, or judgment according to context.
It is not automatically chosen, spiritually superior, or evidence that God has abandoned someone. Nor should imposed isolation, abuse, displacement, poverty, or untreated illness be romanticized as a divine training program. ἔρημος helps readers notice lack of habitation, support, or public activity. The passage then explains whether God calls, tests, sustains, warns, feeds, shelters, or meets His people there.
ἔρημος describes wilderness, desolation, or solitary space. The selected passages show proclamation, temptation, prayer, rest, scarcity, covenant warning, and protected refuge, proving that the same terrain can serve sharply different purposes within God's story.
In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea
John's wilderness ministry fulfills the prophetic voice preparing the Lord's way and summons Israel to repentance. The location supports the exodus and prophetic resonance, while the message and John's calling give the scene its authority.
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
The Spirit leads Jesus into the setting, the devil performs the tempting, and the Son answers faithfully from Scripture. The passage reveals obedient sonship under testing without making evil temptation morally attributable to the Spirit.
Early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up and went out to a solitary place to pray.
Jesus seeks solitude for prayer after an intense day of teaching and healing, then resists pressure to remain where popularity is growing. Solitude serves communion and mission clarity rather than escape from obedience.
And He said to them, “Come with Me privately to a solitary place, and let us rest for a while.” For many people were coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.
Jesus recognizes the apostles' exhaustion and invites them toward rest and food. The crowd interrupts the plan, yet His compassion does not erase the legitimacy of embodied limits or the need for later rest.
As the day neared its end, the Twelve came to Jesus and said, “Dismiss the crowd so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside for lodging and provisions. For we are in a desolate place here.”
The disciples accurately identify the material limits of the place, but Jesus commands them to give the crowd something to eat and multiplies what is available. Desolation becomes a setting for compassionate provision, not denial of need.
Do not harden your hearts, as you did in the rebellion, in the day of testing in the wilderness,
Hebrews uses Israel's wilderness response as a present warning against hardened unbelief. The problem is not geography but refusing God's voice despite His works and promise.
And the woman fled into the wilderness, where God had prepared a place for her to be nourished for 1,260 days.
Within Revelation's vision, wilderness becomes a prepared place of nourishment during threat. The image draws on exodus patterns of preservation and must be read within apocalyptic genre rather than converted into a timetable or geographic prediction.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Verse-level guides showing how this original-language form works in its specific context, including grammar, verse function, and guarded interpretation.
Greek word. Barren, isolated place; often theologically significant as space for divine encounter and testing.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 50 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
deserted, desolate, a desert
Read versedeserted, desolate, a desert
Read versedeserted, desolate, a desert
Read versedeserted, desolate, a desert
Read versedeserted, desolate, a desert
Read versedeserted, desolate, a desert
Read versedeserted, desolate, a desert
Read versedeserted, desolate, a desert
Read versedeserted, desolate, a desert
Read versedeserted, desolate, a desert
Read versedeserted, desolate, a desert
Read versedeserted, desolate, a desert
Read versedeserted, desolate, a desert
Read versedeserted, desolate, a desert
Read versedeserted, desolate, a desert
Read versedeserted, desolate, a desert
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 10 case and number patterns. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 2 selected witnesses from 48 lexical occurrence verses.
ἔρημος is of uncertain origin - no further derivation.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Wilderness removes familiar supports, but it does not tell us by itself what God is doing. John preaches there because the prophetic word prepares the Lord's way. Jesus is led there by the Spirit and tempted by the devil, faithfully reliving Israel's testing as the obedient Son. He later chooses solitary space for prayer and offers weary apostles rest, showing that withdrawal can serve communion and creaturely limits.
The feeding narrative refuses to romanticize scarcity: a desolate location means people need food, and compassion addresses the need. Hebrews turns Israel's wilderness history into a warning that people can witness God's works and still harden their hearts. Revelation makes the wilderness a prepared refuge where God nourishes the threatened woman. Churches should therefore listen before labeling someone's experience.
Some need rest, some need food, some need protection, some need repentance, and some need companionship through involuntary isolation. Pastoral care must not call abuse, displacement, depression, or neglect a beneficial wilderness to avoid practical help. The faithful question is not, “What does wilderness always mean? ” but, “What does this text reveal God calling, providing, warning, or protecting here?
”
Matt.4.1
ἔρημος is an adjective that may modify a place, house, woman, or region and may stand substantivally for “the wilderness.” Gender and case follow the word it describes or the implied place. English wilderness, desert, desolate, and solitary reflect context; the term does not require sand or absolute absence of people.
Israel passes through the wilderness after exodus, receives manna and covenant instruction, and repeatedly tests the Lord. Prophets envision a renewed wilderness and a voice preparing God's way. Jesus enters testing as the faithful Son, seeks solitary prayer, feeds people in desolation, and warns through Israel's failure. Revelation returns to exodus imagery as God nourishes a threatened people in a prepared wilderness refuge.
MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML — CC0 1.0 Public Domain
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (morphhb/OSHB) — CC BY 4.0
Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon — CC BY 4.0
Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain