Isaiah 35
35
Chapter 35
A message of hope
1The desert and the dry land will be happy!
The wilderness will be happy too,
and beautiful flowers will grow there.
2Yes, there will be lots of flowers!
The land will sing and shout with joy!
The desert will be as beautiful as Lebanon.
It will seem like lovely places in Carmel and in Sharon.
In those places, people will see the Lord's glory.
They will see that our God is very great.
3If your hands feel weak,
now be strong!
If your knees are shaking,
now be brave!
4Say this to people who are afraid:
‘Be strong! Do not be afraid!
Your God is coming now.
He is coming to punish his enemies
for the bad things that they have done.
He is coming to rescue you!’
5At that time, he will open the eyes of blind people.
Deaf people will hear again.
6People with weak legs will jump like deer.
People who cannot speak now will shout with joy.
Water will pour from springs in the desert.
Streams of water will run in the wilderness.
7The hot earth will become a pool of water.
The dry ground will have springs of water.
In the places where jackals made their homes,
there will now be grasses and reeds.
8There will be a great road there.
It will be called ‘The Holy Way’.
People who are unclean will not travel on it.
It will be for those people who know God's way.
Evil fools will not walk on it.
9No lions will be there.
No dangerous wild animals will come onto it.
They will not come near to it.
It is the people that the Lord has rescued
who will travel on that road.
10He has paid the price to rescue them,
and they will return home along it.
They will be happy and they will sing,
as they go into Zion city.
They will be very happy for ever.
They will never again be sad or upset.
All the time they will be completely happy.
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Isaiah 35
35
The Land and Its People Are Transformed
1 Let the desert and dry region be happy;#tn The final mem (ם) on the verb יְשֻׂשׂוּם (yÿsusum) is dittographic (note the initial mem on the following noun מִדְבָּר [midbar]). The ambiguous verbal form is translated as a jussive because it is parallel to the jussive form תָגֵל (tagel). The jussive is used rhetorically here, not as a literal command or prayer.
let the wilderness#tn Or “Arabah” (NASB); NAB, NIV, TEV “desert.” rejoice and bloom like a lily!
2 Let it richly bloom;#tn The ambiguous verb form תִּפְרַח (tifrakh) is translated as a jussive because it is parallel to the jussive form תָגֵל (tagel).
let it rejoice and shout with delight!#tn Heb “and let it rejoice, yes [with] rejoicing and shouting.” גִּילַת (gilat) may be an archaic feminine nominal form (see GKC 421 §130.b).
It is given the grandeur#tn Or “glory” (KJV, NIV, NRSV); also a second time later in this verse. of Lebanon,
the splendor of Carmel and Sharon.
They will see the grandeur of the Lord,
the splendor of our God.
3 Strengthen the hands that have gone limp,
steady the knees that shake!#tn Heb “staggering knees”; KJV, ASV, NRSV “feeble knees”; NIV “knees that give way.”
4 Tell those who panic,#tn Heb “Say to the hasty of heart,” i.e., those whose hearts beat quickly from fear.
“Be strong! Do not fear!
Look, your God comes to avenge!
With divine retribution he comes to deliver you.”#tn The jussive form וְיֹשַׁעֲכֶם (vÿyosha’akhem), which is subordinated to the preceding imperfect with vav conjunctive, indicates purpose.
5 Then blind eyes will open,
deaf ears will hear.
6 Then the lame will leap like a deer,
the mute tongue will shout for joy;
for water will flow#tn Heb “burst forth” (so NAB); KJV “break out.” in the desert,
streams in the wilderness.#tn Or “Arabah” (NASB); KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT “desert.”
7 The dry soil will become a pool of water,
the parched ground springs of water.
Where jackals once lived and sprawled out,
grass, reeds, and papyrus will grow.
8 A thoroughfare will be there –
it will be called the Way of Holiness.#tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “and there will be there a road and a way, and the Way of Holiness it will be called.” וְדֶרֶךְ (vÿderekh, “and a/the way”) is accidentally duplicated; the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa does not reflect the repetition of the phrase.
The unclean will not travel on it;
it is reserved for those authorized to use it#tn The precise meaning of this line is uncertain. The text reads literally “and it is for them, the one who walks [on the] way.” In this context those authorized to use the Way of Holiness would be morally upright people who are the recipients of God’s deliverance, in contrast to the morally impure and foolish who are excluded from the new covenant community. –
fools#tn In this context “fools” are those who are morally corrupt, not those with limited intellectual capacity. will not stray into it.
9 No lions will be there,
no ferocious wild animals will be on it#tn Heb “will go up on it”; TEV “will pass that way.” –
they will not be found there.
Those delivered from bondage will travel on it,
10 those whom the Lord has ransomed will return that way.#tn Heb “and the redeemed will walk, the ransomed of the Lord will return.”
They will enter Zion with a happy shout.
Unending joy will crown them,#tn Heb “[will be] on their head[s].” “Joy” may be likened here to a crown (cf. 2 Sam 1:10). The statement may also be an ironic twist on the idiom “earth/dust on the head” (cf. 2 Sam 1:2; 13:19; 15:32; Job 2:12), referring to a mourning practice.
happiness and joy will overwhelm#tn Heb “will overtake” (NIV); NLT “they will be overcome with.” them;
grief and suffering will disappear.#tn Heb “grief and groaning will flee”; KJV “sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”
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