Hebrew word · H3452

יְשִׁימוֹן

hayshimon

wilderness

Desolation, wasteland, empty desert. It probably comes from a root meaning 'to be desolate'. The word stresses barrenness and the absence of life, water and roads. It can also be a place name, 'Jeshimon', for desolate tracts near the Dead Sea (Num 21:20; 23:28; 1 Sam 23:19, 24).

Appears 13 times in 13 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

waste, wilderness, desert, desolate place

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Psalm 68:7

Range of meaning

Desolation, wasteland, empty desert. It probably comes from a root meaning 'to be desolate'. The word stresses barrenness and the absence of life, water and roads. It can also be a place name, 'Jeshimon', for desolate tracts near the Dead Sea (Num 21:20; 23:28; 1 Sam 23:19, 24).

Against the English

KJV, WEB and YLT have 'wilderness'; BSB has 'wasteland'. 'Wasteland' is closer. Modern 'wilderness' tends to suggest forests, national parks and unspoiled nature, which is not the picture here.

How it drifted

In older English 'wilderness' meant wild, uninhabited land, including desert. Modern usage, shaped by outdoor and conservation language, has turned it toward wooded, scenic nature.

Used elsewhere in the period

Deut 32:10: God found Israel 'in a desert land, in the howling waste of the wasteland (yəšīmōn)'. Ps 78:40: 'how often they rebelled against him in the wilderness, grieved him in the yəšîmôn'. See also Ps 106:14; 107:4; Isa 43:19–20, where God makes rivers in the yəšîmôn.

From the study of 1 Samuel 23:19

Range of meaning

'Wasteland, desert, desolate region', from the root yāsham 'to be desolate'. It is used as a common noun in poetry (Deut 32:10; Ps 68:7; 78:40; 106:14; Isa 43:19–20). With the article ('the Jeshimon') it names specific barren tracts: in Numbers 21:20 and 23:28 the land north-east of the Dead Sea, and here the Judean desert east of Ziph.

Against the English

BSB, KJV, ESV, NIV, NASB keep it as the proper name 'Jeshimon'. WEB 'the desert' and YLT 'the desolate place' translate the meaning. Both choices are defensible, since the name is simply a description that became a name.

Used elsewhere in the period

Deut 32:10 pictures God finding Israel 'in a howling waste of wilderness (yᵉshimon)'. The word carries a sense of empty, lifeless land. 1 Sam 26:1, 3 repeats the landmark: 'the hill of Hachilah, which is facing (ʿal-pᵉnê) the Jeshimon'.

From the study of Psalm 106:14

Range of meaning

Wasteland, desolation, empty barren ground, from the root ישם, 'to be desolate.' It is mostly poetic. It also appears as a place name for barren areas, 'the Jeshimon' (Num 21:20; 1 Sam 23:19, 24).

Against the English

'Desert/wasteland' is accurate. The Septuagint's 'waterless place' points to the lack of water.

Used elsewhere in the period

Deuteronomy 32:10: God found Israel 'in a desert land, in the howling waste of a wilderness (yeshimon).' Psalm 78:40: 'they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved him in the yeshimon,' the same word pair as here. Isaiah 43:19–20 promises rivers in the yeshimon.

Where it appears

Numbers · 2

  1. Numbers 21:20 הַיְשִׁימֹֽן׃ פ the desolate place

    and from Bamoth to the valley in Moab where the top of Pisgah overlooks the wasteland.

  2. Numbers 23:28 הַיְשִׁימֹֽן׃ the desolate place

    And Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which overlooks the wasteland.

Deuteronomy · 1

  1. Deuteronomy 32:10 יְשִׁמֹ֑ן a desolate place

    He found him in a desert land, in a barren, howling wilderness; He surrounded him, He instructed him, He guarded him as the apple of His eye.

    Here: 'Wasteland.' It means desolate ground where nothing lives. The psalms use it for the land Israel crossed (Ps 68:7; 78:40). The three words together build one picture: 'the empty place of the howling of the wasteland.'

1 Samuel · 4

  1. 1 Samuel 23:19 הַיְשִׁימֽוֹן׃ <the> Jeshimon

    Then the Ziphites came up to Saul at Gibeah and said, “Is not David hiding among us in the strongholds at Horesh, on the hill of Hachilah south of Jeshimon?

    Here: 'The Wasteland', from a root meaning 'be desolate'. With the article it names the barren Judean desert that falls away east toward the Dead Sea. It works both as a description and as a regional name.

  2. 1 Samuel 23:24 הַיְשִׁימֽוֹן׃ <the> Jeshimon

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

  3. 1 Samuel 26:1 הַיְשִׁימֹֽן׃ <the> Jeshimon

    Then the Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah and said, “Is not David hiding on the hill of Hachilah, opposite Jeshimon?”

  4. 1 Samuel 26:3 הַיְשִׁימֹ֖ן <the> Jeshimon

    Saul camped beside the road at the hill of Hachilah opposite Jeshimon, but David was living in the wilderness. When he realized that Saul had followed him there,

Psalms · 4

  1. Psalm 68:7 בִֽישִׁימ֣וֹן in a desolate place

    O God, when You went out before Your people, when You marched through the wasteland, Selah

    Here: 'Through/in the waste': barren, empty, lifeless land. It is the wasteland where Israel wandered after the Exodus (compare Deut 32:10; Ps 78:40; 106:14).

  2. Psalm 78:40 בִּֽישִׁימֽוֹן׃ in a desolate place

    How often they disobeyed Him in the wilderness and grieved Him in the desert!

    Here: "In the wasteland". From a root meaning "to be desolate", it is a harsher word than midbar: barren, empty ground. It matches "wilderness" in the first line and makes the picture bleaker. This was the very place where Israel depended on God for water and bread.

  3. Psalm 106:14 בִּֽישִׁימֽוֹן׃ in a desolate place

    They craved intensely in the wilderness and tested God in the desert.

    Here: 'In the wasteland.' A poetic word from a root meaning 'to be desolate.' It parallels 'wilderness' but sharpens the picture to barren, empty ground where only God could feed them.

  4. Psalm 107:4 בִּישִׁימ֣וֹן in a desolate place of

    Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no path to a city in which to dwell.

Isaiah · 2

  1. Isaiah 43:19 בִּֽישִׁמ֖וֹן in a desolate place

    Behold, 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 and streams in the desert.

    Here: "In the wasteland": the most barren kind of desert, the word Deuteronomy 32:10 uses for the "howling waste" of the wanderings. It's a stronger, bleaker word than "wilderness".

  2. Isaiah 43:20 בִּֽישִׁימֹ֔ן in a desolate place

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

    Here: From a root meaning 'to be desolate': the empty, barren waste. It is the poetic partner of 'wilderness' in the same line and repeats v.19 word for word.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.