ἔρημος
érēmos · G2048 · Greek · 48 occurrences
Meanings
-
uninhabited, deserted
Pertaining to an absence of residents or inhabitants in a place
ExamplesActs 1:20 For it is written in the book of Psalms: ‘MAY HIS RESIDENCE BE MADE DESOLATE, AND MAY THERE BE NONE LIVING IN IT’; and, ‘MAY ANOTHER TAKE HIS OFFICE.’
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desert, wilderness, lonely place
A largely uninhabited region, normally with sparse vegetation (in contrast with πόλις ‘a population center,’)
ExamplesMatthew 3:1 Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying,
Matthew 3:3 For this is the one referred to by Isaiah the prophet when he said, “THE VOICE OF ONE CALLING OUT IN THE WILDERNESS, ‘PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD, MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT!’”
Mark 1:3 THE VOICE OF ONE CALLING OUT IN THE WILDERNESS, ‘PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD, MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT!’”
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wilderness of Judea
Wilderness of Judea
ExamplesMatthew 3:1 Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying,
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deserted, forsaken
The state of a person who has been deserted or forsaken
ExamplesGalatians 4:27 For it is written: “REJOICE, INFERTILE ONE, YOU WHO DO NOT GIVE BIRTH; BREAK FORTH AND SHOUT, YOU WHO ARE NOT IN LABOR; FOR THE CHILDREN OF THE DESOLATE ONE ARE MORE NUMEROUS THAN THOSE OF THE ONE WHO HAS A HUSBAND.”
How it’s used In 5 roles
Every occurrence, grouped by the words it is grammatically related to.
the word studied the word it goes with
Whose, or of whatGenitive or possessive
2 occurrences in 2 groups
- ἸουδαίαJudea 1
- ὄροςmountain 1
Named alongside itApposition
2 occurrences in 3 groups
- εἴδωto know 1
- ἔχωto have 1
- πειράζωto test, to tempt 1
What is said to be itIt is the predicate
4 occurrences in 3 groups
- τόποςplace 2
- ἔπαυλιςhomestead 1
- οὗτοςthis 1
After prepositionsPrepositional phrases
35 occurrences in 3 groups
- ἐνin 42
- εἰςto 18
- ἐγγύςnear 1
In phrases “… of it”It is the genitive
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- τέκνονchild, offspring 1
When two words share a role, as in “Paul and Barnabas said”, the verse appears under each, so a section’s counts can add up to more than the number of occurrences.
MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.
In the other Testament 6 words
- מִדְבָּר midbâr · H4057 · steppe, desert, wilderness
- Greek ἔρημος (erēmos) and Hebrew מִדְבָּר (midbār) both denote uninhabited wilderness/desert regions, with ἔρημος rendering מִדְבָּר consistently across the LXX as the standard translation equivalent for wilderness contexts.
- חָרֵב chârêb · H2720 · dry, desolate, waste
- Greek ἔρημος and Hebrew חָרֵב both denote desolate, uninhabited, or waste places, functioning as direct translation equivalents across the Septuagint rendering tradition.
- חׇרְבָּה chorbâh · H2723 · desolation, ruin, uninhabitable place
- חׇרְבָּה (chorbâh, H2723) emphasizes physical decay and ruins resulting from destruction, while ἔρημος (érēmos, G2048) focuses on emptiness and desolation as uninhabited wasteland, though both denote desolate places.
- חָרָבָה chârâbâh · H2724 · dry land
- Hebrew חָרָבָה emphasizes the physical state of dryness/desolation as ground condition, while Greek ἔρημος emphasizes the inhabited/uninhabited status (lonesome, waste) as spatial characterization; both converge on desolate/waste terrain in wilderness contexts.
- יְשִׁימוֹן yᵉshîymôwn · H3452 · wilderness
- Hebrew יְשִׁימוֹן denotes specifically a desert wasteland or desolate wilderness region, rendered by Greek ἔρημος in its LXX noun sense of uninhabited wilderness terrain.
- שְׁמָמָה shᵉmâmâh · H8077 · desolation, horror
- Both terms denote uninhabited wasteland or a desolate place; Greek ἔρημος emphasizes loneliness or abandonment, while Hebrew שְׁמָמָה emphasizes the state of being laid waste or made desolate — substantial overlap in their core sense of waste or wilderness.
Semantic domains 3 entries
- Desert, wilderness, lonely place1.86
- In Matthew 3:1, “John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea,” the ordinary sense of an unpopulated, desert region.
- Deserted, forsaken35.55
- In Galatians 4:27, quoting Isaiah, Paul writes, “FOR THE CHILDREN OF THE DESOLATE ONE ARE MORE NUMEROUS THAN THOSE OF THE ONE WHO HAS A HUSBAND,” describing one who has been forsaken and left without children.
- Uninhabited, deserted85.84
- In Matthew 14:13, upon hearing about John the Baptist, Jesus “withdrew from there in a boat to a secluded place by Himself,” a place empty of other people.
Word family 4 words
Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.
Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon ἔρημον (in classic Greek also ἔρημος, ἐρήμη, ἔρημον, cf. Winers Grammar, § 11, 1;…
1. adjective solitary, lonely, desolate, uninhabited: of places, Mt 14:13, Mt 14:15; Mk 1:35; Mk 6:32; Lk 4:42; Lk 9:10 (R G L), ; Acts 1:20, etc.; ἡ ὁδός, leading through a desert, Acts 8:26 (2 Sam 2:24 the Sept.), see Γάζα, under the end of persons: "deserted by others; deprived of the aid and protection of others, especially of friends, acquaintances, kindred; bereft"; (so often by Greek writers of every age, as Aeschylus Ag. 862; Pers. 734; Aristophanes pax 112; ἔρημος τέ καί ὑπό πάντων καταλειφθείς, Herodian, 2, 12, 12 (7 edition, Bekker); of a flock deserted by the shepherd, Homer, Iliad 5, 140): γυνή, a woman neglected by her husband, from whom the husband withholds himself, Gal 4:27, from Isa 54:1; of Jerusalem, bereft of Christ's presence, instruction and aid, Mt 23:38 (L and WH texts omit); Lk 13:35 Rec.; cf. Bleek, Erklär. d. drei ersten Evv. ii., p. 206 (cf. Baruch 4:19; Additions to (6:13); 2 Macc. 8:35).
2. a substantive, ἡ ἔρημος, namely, χώρα; the Sept. often for מִדְבַּר; a desert, wilderness (Herodotus 3, 102): Mt 24:26; Rev 12:6, Rev 12:14; Rev 17:3; αἱ ἔρημοι, desert places, lonely regions: Lk 1:80; Lk 5:16; Lk 8:29. an uncultivated region fit for pasturage, Lk 15:4. used of the desert of Judaea (cf. Winer's Grammar, § 18, 1), Mt 3:1; Mk 1:3; Lk 1:80; Lk 3:2, Lk 3:4; Jn 1:23; of the desert of Arabia, Acts 7:30, Acts 7:36, Acts 7:38, Acts 7:42, Acts 7:44; 1 Cor 10:5; Heb 3:8, Heb 3:17. Cf. Winers RWB under the word Wüste; Furrer in Sehenkel see 680ff; (B. D., see under the words, and (American edition)).
Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (1889), public domain
Topical studies with this word 3 entries
Meanings adapted from the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament, © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0 and the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew (from the Semantic Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew), © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0; MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.
Sources
eRhema lexical overview, based on the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew and the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (© United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Macula Hebrew and Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0); released under CC BY-SA 4.0
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