For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.
Heath - [kª`ar`ar, from `aaraah (H6168), to bare]. In Psalms 102:17; Isaiah 32:11; Habakkuk 3:9, the Hebrew is translated, "bare," "naked," "destitute;" but as the parallel in Jeremiah 17:8 is "tree," some plant must be meant of which this is the characteristic epithet (see Jeremiah 48:6, margin, 'a naked tree'). Robinson translates, 'the juniper tree,' found in the Arabah or Great Valley, here called "the desert," south of the Dead Sea. The "heath" was one of the plants, according to Pliny (13: 21.; 16: 26), excluded from religious uses, because it has neither fruit nor seed, and is neither sown nor planted.
Shall not see when good cometh - (Job 20:17, "He shall not see (for himself, so as to enjoy) the rivers, the brooks of honey and butter").
In a salt land - (Deuteronomy 29:23), barren ground.