17 Bible Verses about Wilderness

And Moses caused Israel to set out from the {Red Sea}, and they went out into the desert of Shur, and they traveled three days in the desert, and they did not find water.

They set out from Pi-Hahiroth and went through the midst of the sea into the desert; and they went a journey of three days into the desert of Etham and camped at Marah.

He came to the cave there and spent the night there. Suddenly the [word] of Yahweh came to him and asked him, "{Elijah, what are you doing here}?" Then he said, "I have been very zealous for Yahweh the God of hosts, for the {Israelites} have forsaken your covenant. They have demolished your altars, and they have killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left over, and they seek to take my life. He said, "Go out and stand on the mountain before Yahweh." Suddenly Yahweh was passing by, with a great and strong wind ripping the mountains and crushing rocks before Yahweh; [but] Yahweh [was] not in the wind. After the wind, [there was] an earthquake; [but] Yahweh was not in the earthquake. read more.
After the earthquake [was] a fire, [but] Yahweh was not in the fire. After the fire [there was] the sound of a gentle whisper. It happened at the moment Elijah heard, he covered his face with his cloak and went out and stood [at] the entrance of the cave. Suddenly a voice [came] to him and said, "{Elijah, why are you here}?" He said, "I have been very zealous for Yahweh the God of Hosts, for the {Israelites} have forsaken your covenant, demolished your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword; I alone am left, and they seek to take my life!" Then Yahweh said to him, "Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. Go and anoint Hazael as king over Aram; and Jehu son of Nimshi you shall anoint as king over Israel. You shall also anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel-Meholah as prophet in your place. It shall be that the [one] who escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu will kill; the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall kill. I will leave in Israel seven thousand, all of the knees that have not bowed down to Baal and all of the mouths that have not kissed him." So he went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat while he [was] plowing [with] twelve pairs of oxen before him. When he and the twelve passed Elijah, he threw his cloak on him. Then he left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, "Please let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will go after you." Then he said, "Go, return, for what I have done to you?" So he returned from after him, and he took a pair of oxen and slaughtered them, and with the yoke of the oxen he boiled the flesh and gave it to the people and they ate. Then he arose and went after Elijah and served him.

Yahweh said, "I have forgiven [them] according to your word; but as I [am] alive, the glory of Yahweh will fill all the earth. But because all the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the desert yet tested me these ten times and did not listen to my voice, read more.
they will not see the land that I swore by oath to their ancestors, and all those who despised me will not see it. But my servant Caleb, because another spirit was with him, he remained true after me, and I will bring him into the land that {he entered}, and his offspring will take possession of it. And the Amalekites and the Canaanites live in the valleys; tomorrow turn and set out [for] the desert [by] way of the {Red Sea}." And Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, "How long [will I bear] this evil community who are grumbling against me? I have heard the grumbling of the {Israelites} which {they are making} against me. Say to them, 'Surely as I live,' {declares} Yahweh, 'just as you spoke {in my hearing}, so I will do to you; in this desert your corpses will fall, and all your counted ones, according to all your number, from {twenty years old} and above who grumbled against me. You [yourselves] will not come into the land that {I swore by oath} to make you to dwell in it, but Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. But your little children, whom you said would be plunder, I will bring them, and they will know the land that you rejected. But for you, all your corpses will fall in this desert. And your children will be shepherds in the desert forty years, and you will bear your unfaithfulness until {all your corpses have fallen} in the desert. According to the number of the days that you explored the land, forty days, {a day for each year}, you will bear your sins forty years, and you will know my opposition.' I, Yahweh, have spoken; I will surely do this to all this evil community who has banded together against me. In this desert they will come to an end, and there they will die." As for the men whom Moses sent to explore the land, who returned and made the community grumble against him by spreading a report over the land, the men who spread the evil report of the land died by the plague {before Yahweh}. But Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh lived from [among] the men who went to explore the land. And Moses spoke words to all the {Israelites}, and the people mourned greatly.

And it happened, in the second year, in the second month, on [the] twentieth of the month the cloud was lifted from upon the tabernacle of the testimony. And the {Israelites} set out for their journey from the desert of Sinai, and the cloud dwelled in the desert of Paran. They set out {for the first time} on the command of Yahweh in the hand of Moses. read more.
The standard of the camp of the descendants of Judah set out for the first time according to their divisions, with Nahshon son of Amminadab over its division. And Nathanel son of Zuar [was] over the division of the descendants of Issachar; Eliab son of Helon [was] over the division of the tribe of the descendants of Zebulun. The tabernacle was taken down, and the sons of Gershon and the sons of Merari, the bearers of the tabernacle, set out. And the standard of the camp of Reuben according to their divisions; Elizur son of Shedeur [was] over their division. Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai [was] over the division of the sons of the tribe of Simeon. Eliasaph son of Deuel [was] over the division of the tribe of the descendants of Gad. The Kohathites, the bearers of the sanctuary, set out, and they set up the tabernacle before they arrived. And the stand of the camp of the descendants of Ephraim set out according to their divisions; Elishama son of Ammihud [was] over its division. Gamaliel son of Pedahzur [was] over the division of the tribe of the descendants of Manasseh. Abidan son of Gideoni [was] over the division of the tribe of the descendants of Benjamin. Then the standard of the camp of the descendants of Dan, who formed a rear guard for all the camps, set out according to their divisions; Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai [was] over its division. Pagiel son of Ocran [was] over the division of the tribe of the descendants of Asher. Ahira son of Enan [was] over the division of the tribe of the descendants of Naphtali. These [were] the departures of the {Israelites} according to their divisions; and so they set out. Moses said to Hobab son of Reuel the Midianite, the father-in-law of Moses, "We [are] setting out to the place that Yahweh said, 'I will give it to you'; go with us, and we will {treat you well} because {Yahweh promised} good concerning Israel." But he said to him, "I will not go. I will only go to my land and to my family." He said, "Please, do not abandon us because you know our encampment in the desert, and {you should be our guide}. Moreover, if you go with us, the good that Yahweh will do to us we will do to you." And so they set out from the mountain of Yahweh a journey of three days, with the ark of the covenant of Yahweh setting out ahead of them three days' journey to search out a resting place for them; and the cloud of Yahweh [was] over them by day when they set out from the camp. And whenever the ark was setting out Moses would say, "Rise up, Yahweh! May your enemies be scattered; may the ones that hate you flee from your presence." And when it rested he would say, "Return, Yahweh, to the countless thousands of Israel."

Then Jesus was led up into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil,

And immediately the Spirit drove him out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness forty days being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him.

And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness

He found him in a desert land, and in a howling, desert wasteland; he {encircled him}, he cared for him, he protected him like the {apple} of his eye.