Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G MessageI looked—and the fruitful farmland had become a desert wasteland, and every city lay in ruins before Yahweh, before the fury of His burning anger.
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.GI looked—and the fertile land was a wilderness, and every city had crumbled before YHWH, before the burning heat of His anger.
KJV
King James VersionI beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger.
BSB
Berean Standard BibleI looked, and the fruitful land was a desert. All its cities were torn down before the LORD, before His fierce anger.
Footnotes
The *carmel* (כַּרְמֶל, "garden-land/fruitful place") reduced to *midbar* (wilderness/desert) completes the de-creation sequence. *Carmel* evokes the abundance of Eden and the Promised Land — YHWH's gift of life and *shalom* in the land. Its reversal to *midbar* represents the total withdrawal of divine blessing, the land returning to its pre-Exodus condition. The fourfold "I looked" (vv. 23–26) creates the slow, solemn rhythm of a funeral liturgy, each beat stripping away another layer of created order until nothing remains.