Answers about…
deserts in the Bible

Desert places in the Bible

Desert People and People Groups

Desert Plants

Desert Animals

Desert animals of the ancient Middle East—including Israel’s Negev, Arabah, Sinai, and the Syrian–Arabian steppe—fall into a fairly stable set of creatures. Many are named in the Bible; others are known from bones, rock art, and later naturalists. Several large species that lived there in biblical times are now gone from the wild in Israel.

Animal Notes Bible / region
Addax Sand-desert antelope of the Sahara and parts of Arabia Sometimes proposed for the Hebrew word dishon; little bone evidence in Israel itself
Ant Proverbs 6:6; 30:24-25
Asp Psalm 140:3; Romans 3:13
Bats in caves and ruins Leviticus 11:19; Deuteronomy 14:18; Isaiah 2:20
Bear, Syrian More mountain than sand desert; raided from higher country 1 Samuel 17:34; 2 Kings 2:24
Camel Domestic desert animal of Midian, Arabia, and later Israel Genesis 24; Job 1:3; Isaiah 21:7
Caracal (desert lynx) True desert cat Not clearly named; present in the Negev of Israel
Chameleon Leviticus 11:30
Cheetah Open desert/steppe; may be folded into namer in some verses Possible; later extinct in the region
Desert lark (desert finch lark, sand lark) arid-land bird Morocco to India
Desert monitor
Donkey (ass)
Dove
Dragon
Eagle soar over wadis and high desert Job 39:27–30
  • Firey serpent
    		•
    Fox Solitary; red fox and smaller desert foxes Judges 15:4 may mix fox and jackal (Hebrew: shual)
    Gazelle (Dorcas, mountain/Arabian) Open desert and steppe; very common in antiquity Deut. 12:15; 14:5; Song 2:9 (Hebrew: tsevi)
    Gecko deserts, rocks, and houses; Israel alone has about a dozen gecko species native and common across the Middle East, including Israel, Sinai, Jordan, Arabia, and the Levant; Leviticus 11:30
    Gier eagle common in Egypt Job 39:27–30
    Griffon vulture soar over wadis and high desert Job 39:27–30
    Hare
    Hartebeest Open country / steppe, more water-dependent than oryx Possible among clean wild game; bones in the southern Levant
    Hedgehog Isaiah 14:23; 34:11
    Hoopoe arid-land bird; distinctive “crown” of feathers which can be raised or lowered at will Israel, Sinai, Syria, Turkey, etc.; Leviticus 11:19; Deuteronomy 14:18
    Houbara bustard arid-land bird Egypt, Libya
    Hyena, Striped Scavenger of tombs, ruins, and desert Isaiah 13:22; Jeremiah 12:9 (Hebrew: tsavua / “speckled”)
    Ibex, Nubian Cliff-dwelling wild goat of the Negev, Edom, Sinai, and Arabah Psalm 104:18; Job 39:1; Deut. 14:5 ( (Hebrew: yael / akko)
    Jackal, Golden Ruins, wadis, desert edge; howls at night Isaiah 13:22; 34:13; 35:7; Jeremiah 9:11. KJV often “dragon” (Hebrew: tan)
    Jirds shelter in small burrows or under overhanging rocks; under walls Egypt, Libya, Persia, Turkey, Iran, Iraq
    Kites Black kite (Milvus migrans), Black-winged kite (Elanus caeruleus) Middle East, including desert and desert-edge country such as Israel’s Negev
    Leopard (Arabian) Rocky desert mountains; nearly gone in Israel Song 4:8; Jeremiah 5:6; Habakkuk 1:8 (Hebrew: namer)
    Lion Jordan thickets, Negev, Lebanon; now extinct in Israel Many texts (Judges 14; 1 Samuel 17; Jeremiah 49:19)
    Lizards of many kinds Leviticus 11:29–30; Proverbs 30:28
    Locusts
    Mole rat (Spalax) common pests in Israel (Hebrew: choled ); Leviticus 11:29; Isaiah 2:20
    Mouse Leviticus 11:29; Isaiah 66:17; 1 Samuel 6:4, 11, 18
    Onager / Asiatic wild ass Fast desert equine of the Syrian–Arabian steppe Job 39:5–8; Genesis 16:12; Jeremiah 2:24
    Oryx, Arabian Pale antelope of sand and gravel desert; long straight horns Likely Deut. 14:5 dishon; hunted out of the wild, later reintroduced
    Ostrich classic desert bird of Arabia and the Negev Job 39:13–18; Isaiah 13:21; 34:13; 43:20 (KJV often “owl”). Extinct in the wild there by the early 20th century.
    Owls several species in ruins and cliffs Isaiah 34:11–15; Leviticus 11
    Quail
    Raven scavengers of carcasses in open country Job 38:41; Song of Songs 5:11; Luke 12:24
    Rock hyrax (“coney”) cliffs and rocky desert Psalm 104:18; Proverbs 30:26
    Sandgrouse arid-land bird Morocco to western India
    Sand rats lives in sandy deserts, wadis, or rocky terrain Middle East, North Africa, Arabian Peninsula
    Scapegoat Leviticus 16:10
    Scorpions Deuteronomy 8:15; 1 Kings 12:11; Ezekiel 2:6; Luke 10:19; 11:12
    Vipers often hide by burying themselves in the sand Negev, North Africa; Israel, Arabia, Iran, etc.; Isaiah 30:6
    Vulture scavengers of carcasses in open country Leviticus 11:13; 11:18; Matthew 24:28
    Wolf (Arabian) Desert and steppe packs Isaiah 11:6; John 10:12

    Desert as a symbol

    The word desert is the symbol of the Jewish church when they had forsaken God (Isaiah 40:3).

    Nations destitute of the knowledge of God are called a “wilderness” (32:15, midbar).

    It is a symbol of temptation, solitude, and persecution (Isaiah 27:10, midbar_; 33:9, _arabah).

    Hebrew words translated as “desert”

    1. Midbar

      Hebrew: מִדְבָּר —transliteration: midbar —meaning: wilderness or desert or an open pasture ground

      Uses in Scripture include:

      …For the pastures of the wilderness have turned green… —Joel 2:22 LSB excerpt

      The “backside of the desert” (Exodus 3:1) is the west of the desert, the region behind a man, as the east is the region in front. The same Hebrew word is rendered “wilderness,” and is used of the country lying between Egypt and Israel (Genesis 21:14, 21; Exodus 4:27; 19:2; Joshua 1:4), the wilderness of the wanderings. It was a grazing tract, where the flocks and herds of the Israelites found pasturage during the whole of their journey to the Promised Land.

      The same Hebrew word is used also to denote the wilderness of Arabia, which in winter and early spring supplies good pasturage to the flocks of the nomad tribes than roam over it (1 Kings 9:18).

      The wilderness of Judah is the mountainous region along the western shore of the Dead Sea, where David fed his father’s flocks (1 Samuel 17:28; 26:2). Thus, in both of these instances the word denotes a country without settled inhabitants and without streams of water, but having good pasturage for cattle; a country of wandering tribes, as distinguished from that of a settled people (Isaiah 35:1; 50:2; Jeremiah 4:11). Such, also, is the meaning of the word “wilderness” in Matthew 3:3; 15:33; Luke 15:4.

    2. Aribah'

      The translation of the Hebrew Aribah', “an arid tract” (Isaiah 35:1, 6; 40:3; 41:19; 51:3, etc.). The name Arabah is specially applied to the deep valley of the Jordan (the Ghor of the Arabs), which extends from the lake of Tiberias to the Elanitic gulf. While midbar denotes properly a pastoral region, arabah denotes a wilderness. It is also translated “plains;” as “the plains of Jericho” (Joshua 5:10; 2 Kings 25:5), “the plains of Moab” (Numbers 22:1; Deuteronomy 34:1, 8), “the plains of the wilderness” (2 Samuel 17:16).

    3. jeshimon

      In the Revised King James Version of Numbers 21:20 the Hebrew word Jeshimon is properly rendered “desert,” meaning the waste tracts on both shores of the Dead Sea. This word is also rendered “desert” in Psalm 78:40; 106:14; Isaiah 43:19-20. It denotes a greater extent of uncultivated country than the other words so rendered.

      It is especially applied to the desert of the peninsula of Arabia (Numbers 21:20; 23:28M.), the most terrible of all the deserts with which the Israelites were acquainted. It is called “the desert” in Exodus 23:31; Deuteronomy 11:24. (See JESHIMON.)

    4. horbah'

      a dry place; hence a desolation (Psalm 9:6), desolate (Leviticus 26:34); the rendering of the Hebrew word horbah'

      It is rendered “desert” only in Psalm 102:6, Isaiah 48:21, and Ezek. 13:4, where it means the wilderness of Sinai.

    More information

    Article Version: September 25, 2026