erēmos · wilderness, desolate

What it means

erēmos (ἔρημος) is a Greek word of the Bible that means “wilderness, desolate”.

Wilderness: an uninhabited, uncultivated place; also lonely, deserted.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. Land without people or crops.
2. A lonely or abandoned place.

From Abbott-Smith (1922) · Thayer (1889)

Word study

Wilderness: an uninhabited, uncultivated place; as an adjective, lonely, abandoned. It is the place of John the Immerser, of Jesus’ testing, and of Israel’s forty years.

• “A voice of one crying out in the wilderness” Matthew 3:3Matthew 3:1John 1:23
• Jesus led into the wilderness Matthew 4:1Mark 1:12
• Israel in the wilderness Acts 7:36John 6:311 Corinthians 10:5
• Deserted places to pray or rest Luke 5:16Mark 6:31
• A house or a dwelling left desolate Matthew 23:38Acts 1:20Galatians 4:27

How we translate it

“Wilderness” 33 times; “deserted” (11) when it is not the great wilderness but a remote spot (“a deserted place”, Mark 6:31). As an adjective, “desolate” (“your house is left to you desolate”, Matthew 23:38), and in Galatians 4:27, quoting Isaiah, “the desolate one”.

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• wilderness ×33
• deserted ×11
• desolate ×3
• desert ×1

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Matthew×8
• Mark×9
• Luke×10
• John×5
• Acts×9
• 1 Corinthians×1
• Galatians×1
• Hebrews×2
• Revelation×3

• Matthew 3:1

  In those days John the Immerser appears, proclaiming in the wilderness of Judea

• Matthew 3:3

  For this is the one spoken of through Isaiah the prophet, when he says, “A voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’”

• Matthew 4:1

  Then Jesus was led up into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tested by the devil.

• Matthew 11:7

  As these were going away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind?

• Matthew 14:13

  Hearing this, Jesus withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself; and when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns.

• Matthew 14:15

  When evening came, the disciples came to him, saying, “The place is deserted, and the hour has already passed; send the crowds away, so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”

• Matthew 23:38

  Look, your house is left to you desolate.

• Matthew 24:26

  So if they say to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out; ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it.

• Mark 1:3

  a voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’”

• Mark 1:4

  John the Immerser appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming an immersion of change of mind for the forgiveness of sins.

• Mark 1:12

  And at once the Spirit drives him out into the wilderness.

• Mark 1:13

  And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tested by Satan; and he was with the wild animals, and the angels were serving him.

• Mark 1:35

  And very early, while it was still night, he got up and went out and went away to a deserted place, and there he was praying.

• Mark 1:45

  But he went out and began to proclaim it freely and to spread the word, so that he could no longer enter a town openly, but was out in deserted places; and they kept coming to him from everywhere.

• Mark 6:31

  And he says to them, “You yourselves come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a little.” For those who were coming and going were many, and they did not even have the chance to eat.

• Mark 6:32

  And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves.

• Mark 6:35

  And when it was already late, his disciples came to him and were saying, “This place is deserted, and it is already late;

• Luke 1:80

  And the child was growing and becoming strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.

• Luke 3:2

  under the high priest Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the wilderness.

• Luke 3:4

  as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, “A voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

• Luke 4:1

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

• Luke 4:42

  And when day came, he went out and went to a deserted place; and the crowds were searching for him, and they came to him and were holding him back so that he would not go away from them.

• Luke 5:16

  But he would withdraw to the deserted places and pray.

• Luke 7:24

  And when John’s messengers had left, he began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind?

• Luke 8:29

  For he was commanding the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For many times it had seized him, and he was bound with chains and shackles and kept under guard, and breaking the bonds he was driven by the demon into the deserted places.

• Luke 9:12

  Now the day began to decline, and the Twelve came and said to him, “Send away the crowd, so that going into the surrounding villages and farms, they may find lodging and find provisions; because here we are in a deserted place.”

• Luke 15:4

  “What man among you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the lost one until he finds it?

• John 1:23

  He said, “I am a voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”

• John 3:14

  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,

• John 6:31

  Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

• John 6:49

  Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.

• John 11:54

  So Jesus no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went away from there to the region near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim, and there he stayed with the disciples.

• Acts 1:20

  For it is written in the book of Psalms, ‘Let his dwelling become desolate, and let there be no one living in it’; and, ‘Let another take his office.’

• Acts 7:30

  And when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush.

• Acts 7:36

  This man led them out, doing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years.

• Acts 7:38

  This is the one who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers; he received living oracles to give to us.

• Acts 7:42

  But God turned away and handed them over to worship the army of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: ‘You did not offer me slaughtered victims and sacrifices for forty years in the wilderness, did you, house of Israel?

• Acts 7:44

  Our fathers had the tent of testimony in the wilderness, just as the one who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern that he had seen.

• Acts 8:26

  But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Get up and go toward the south, on the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza; this is desert.”

• Acts 13:18

  And for about forty years’ time he put up with them in the wilderness.

And 8 more times.