He built towers in the desert and dug many cisterns, for he owned many herds in the lowlands ¹  and on the plain. He had workers in the fields and vineyards in the hills and in Carmel, ²  for he loved agriculture. ³ 

Caravans ¹  turn aside from their routes; they go ²  into the wasteland ³  and perish. ⁴ 

Look, I will escape to a distant place; I will stay in the wilderness. (Selah)

The pastures in the wilderness glisten with moisture, ¹  and the hills are clothed with joy. ² 

O my God, make them like dead thistles, ¹  like dead weeds blown away by ²  the wind!

Certainly ¹  the Lord does not forsake his people; he does not abandon the nation that belongs to him. ² 

O Lord, restore our well-being, just as the streams in the arid south are replenished. ¹ 

I said, ¹  “Who is wise enough to understand why this has happened? ²  Who has a word from the Lord that can explain it? ³  Why does the land lie in ruins? Why is it as scorched as a desert through which no one travels?”

Do not cause me dismay! ¹  You are my source of safety in times of trouble.

“Repent, ¹  for the kingdom of heaven is near.”

So they went away by themselves in a boat to some remote place.

Yet Jesus himself ¹  frequently withdrew ²  to the wilderness ³  and prayed.

For ¹  a period of about forty years he put up with ²  them in the wilderness. ³ 

¹ Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “Thus says the Lord, ²  the God of Israel, ‘Release ³  my people so that they may hold a pilgrim feast ⁴  to me in the desert.’”

Tell him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you to say, ¹  “Release my people, that they may serve me ²  in the desert!” But until now ³  you have not listened. ⁴ 

Pharaoh said, “I will release you ¹  so that you may sacrifice ²  to the Lord your God in the desert. Only you must not go very far. ³  Do ⁴  pray for me.”

So God brought the people around by the way of the desert to the Red Sea, ¹  and the Israelites went up from the land of Egypt prepared for battle. ² 

and they said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the desert? ¹  What in the world ²  have you done to us by bringing ³  us out of Egypt?

Isn’t this what we told you ¹  in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone so that we can serve the Egyptians, ²  because it is better for us to serve ³  the Egyptians than to die in the desert!’” ⁴ 

¹ Then the entire community of Israel ²  entered the wilderness of Zin in the first month, ³  and the people stayed in Kadesh. ⁴  Miriam died and was buried there. ⁵