Whose house I have made - God had appointed its home in the desert.
And the barren land his dwellings - Margin, as in Hebrew “salt places.” Such places were usually barren. Psalms 107:34, “he turneth a fruitful land into barrenness.” Hebrew “saltness.” Thus, Virgil, Geor. ii. 238-240:
Salsa antem tellus, et quae, perhibetur amara.
Frugibus infelix: ea nec mansuescit arando;
Nec Baccho genus, aut pomis sua nomina servat.
Compare Pliny, Nat. His. 31, 7, Deuteronomy 29:23.