O inhabitant of Jerusalem, and man of Judah, what should I do to My vineyard that I had not done? I looked that it should bring forth grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes. I will make it into a desolation, it shall not be pruned nor hoed, that the briar may come up, and the houses shall be to a devastation; for they regard not the work of Jehovah, neither see the operation of His hands (Isa. 5:3-12). Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard, they have trampled My field, they have reduced the field of My desire to a desert of solitude; he hath made it into a solitude. O desolate, desolate is the whole land, because no one putteth it upon his heart. The wasters came upon all hills in the desert. They have sown wheat, but have reaped thorns (Jer. 12:10-13). A nation hath come up upon My land, and hath reduced My vine to a waste (Joel 1:6, 7). The field is devastated, the land mourneth, the corn is devastated; the must is dried up, the oil languisheth (Joel 1:10). By "vineyard" and "field" in these, as in other passages of the Word, is signified the church. In all your habitations the cities shall be devastated, and the high places desolated, that your altars may be devastated and desolated, and your idols may cease, and your statues may be cut down, and your works blotted out (Ezek. 6:6; see also 6:14). My people have forgotten Me, they have burned incense to vanity; to make the land into a waste (Jer. 18:15, 16). "Land," here is for the church. The high places of Isaac shall be vastated, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be desolated (Amos 7:9). Go and tell this people, Hearing hear ye, but understand not; and seeing see ye, but know not; make the heart of this people fat, and besmear his eyes. (Isa. 6:9-10) Then said the prophet:

Lord, how long? and He said, Until the cities be devastated, and the land is reduced to a solitude: Jehovah will multiply deserts in the midst of the land (Isa. 6:11-12). Behold, Jehovah maketh the land empty, and maketh it void; the land emptying shall be emptied; because they have transgressed the laws, passed by the statute, and made void the covenant of eternity. Therefore in the city there shall be a waste, and the gate shall be crushed even to devastation (Isa. 24:1, 3, 5, 12). The highways are devastated, the wayfaring man hath ceased, he hath made void the covenant. Conceive ye chaff, bring forth stubble (Isa. 33:8, 11). I have been silent from eternity, I will desolate and swallow up together. I will lay waste mountains and hills (Isa. 42:14, 15). Thy destroyers and devastators shall go forth out of thee. For as for thy vastations and desolations, and the land of thy devastation, the devourers shall be far away (Isa. 49:17, 19). Your iniquities have been dividers between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you. They set an asp's eggs, and wove the spider's webs. Vastation and breaking up are in their paths. We look for light, but behold darkness; we feel the wall like the blind, we stumble at noonday as in the twilight (Isa. 59:2, 5, 7, 9, 10). The cities of holiness are become a desert, Zion is become a desert, and Jerusalem a waste. Our house of holiness is become a kindling of fire, and all our desirable things are become a waste (Isa. 64:10, 11). The young lions roar against Israel, they reduce his land to a waste (Jer. 2:15). Woe unto us, for we are devastated. O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness. How long shall thoughts of iniquity tarry in the midst of thee? (Jer. 4:13, 14). As a fountain causeth her waters to gush forth, so Jerusalem causeth her wickedness to gush forth. Violence and vastation is heard in her. Admit chastisement lest I reduce thee to a waste. O daughter of My people, gird thee with sackcloth, and roll thee in ashes; for the vastator shall suddenly come upon us (Jer. 6:7, 8, 26). A voice of lamentation is heard in Zion, How are we devastated! Because I have deserted the land (Jer. 9:19). "Land" is for the church. My tent is devastated, all its ropes are plucked out; for the pastors have become foolish, and have not inquired of Jehovah (Jer. 10:20, 21). "Tent" means worship. The voice roars; behold it cometh, and a great commotion from the land of the north, to reduce the cities of Judah to a waste, a habitation of dragons (Jer. 10:22). The whole land shall be a desolation, a devastation (Jer. 25:11). "Land" means the church. The voice of a cry from Horonaim, devastation and great breaking up; the vastator shall come upon every city (Jer. 48:3, 5, 8, 9, 15, 18). These things are concerning Moab, by which is meant confidence in his own works and in one's own intelligence (as is manifest from verse 29 of that chapter). That they may want bread and water, and be desolated, a man and his brother, and pine away for their iniquity (Ezek. 4:17). "Bread" and "water" mean good and truth. Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup of devastation and desolation (Ezek. 23:33). Woe unto them! for they have wandered away; devastation be unto them (Hos. 7:13). The land shall be a desolation, because of them that dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings (Micah 7:13). (Besides many other passages, as Isa. 7:18, 19; 17:4-6, 9-14; 22:4-9; 29:10-12; 51:19; Jer. 19:8; 25:9-11, 18; 44:2, 6, 22; Ezek. 9:1 to end; 12:19, 20; 33:24, 28, 29; Hos. 10:14; 12:2; Joel 2:20; Amos 5:9; Micah 6:13, 16; Hab. 1:3; Hag. 1:4, 9; Zech. 7:14; 11:2-3.) From all these passages it may be seen what "vastation" and "desolation" are; and that it is not a vastation and desolation of the peoples of a land, and of cities, but of the goods and truths of the church, whence there is nothing but evils and falsities.