Isaiah 35

The wilderness and the empty, lonely land will be glad for them. The desert will be full of joy and will bloom like a rose.

1The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.

Note"Glad for them" translates the King James reading of a difficult line; who "them" refers to is not stated, and many translators take the Hebrew word instead as part of the next phrase, giving simply "the wilderness will be glad." The ambiguity is in the text itself. The flower behind "rose" is not the rose known today. The Hebrew word appears only twice in the Bible and probably names a bulb flower of the coastal plain (a crocus, an asphodel or a narcissus) the kind of bloom that appears suddenly after rain in country that looks dead.

2It will burst into bloom and be full of joy and singing. It will be given the glory of Lebanon and the beauty of Carmel and Sharon. The people will see the glory of the LORD, the greatness of our God.

2It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God.

NoteLebanon, Carmel and Sharon were the three most fertile, best-watered districts known to Isaiah's hearers. Lebanon meant its famous cedar forests; Carmel was a wooded coastal ridge whose name means "garden land"; Sharon was the flowering coastal plain. Naming them together is a way of saying the desert will get the landscape of the richest places in the country.

3Make the weak hands strong. Steady the knees that shake.

3Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.

NoteSlack hands and buckling knees were the standard Hebrew physical description of someone paralyzed by fear or despair, much as English says "weak at the knees." The instruction is addressed to whoever is listening, about other people.

4Say to those whose hearts are full of fear, "Be strong. Do not be afraid. Look, your God will come and pay back your enemies for what they have done. He will come and save you."

4Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you.

Note"Vengeance" and "recompence" here are legal words rather than emotional ones. The Hebrew terms describe redress imposed by a rightful authority (accounts settled, damages paid by those who caused them), not private spite. The same sentence ends with rescue, because in Hebrew usage punishing the oppressor and freeing the oppressed are two sides of one act.

5Then the eyes of blind people will be opened, and the ears of deaf people will be unstopped.

5Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.

6Then the man who cannot walk will jump like a deer, and the tongue that cannot speak will sing. Water will burst out in the wilderness, and streams will run in the desert.

6Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.

7The baked, dry ground will turn into a pool, and the thirsty land will have springs of water. In the place where jackals used to lie down, there will be grass, reeds, and marsh plants.

7And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.

NoteThe Hebrew word behind "the parched ground" can also mean the shimmering heat-haze of the desert, the mirage that looks like water. On that reading the line says the mirage itself turns into a real pool. Jackals (the King James translators guessed "dragons") were scavenging wild dogs that lived in ruins and empty country; naming them is a way of saying the place was desolate. Reeds and papyrus, by contrast, only grow in standing water that never dries up, so their presence marks permanent marshland where there had been none.

8A raised road will be there, a road that will be called the Way of Holiness. People who are unclean will not travel on it; it will belong to those who walk that way. Travelers on it will not get lost, not even foolish ones.

8And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.

NoteA "highway" in this period was a road built up on a bank of packed earth or stone above the surrounding ground, so it stayed passable and could be followed without local knowledge, quite unlike an ordinary desert track. "Unclean" is a ritual term, not a comment on dirt or morals. Under Israel's law a person could become unclean through contact with a corpse, through certain illnesses, or through other ordinary events, and until the prescribed waiting and washing were done they were barred from sacred places and gatherings. The middle of this verse is one of the most damaged sentences in Isaiah. The King James "but it shall be for those" translates the Hebrew word for word, and its sense is genuinely unclear; other readings give "it is for the one who walks the way" or attach the phrase to the fools who follow. Translations differ because the text does, not because one has smoothed it over.

9No lion will be there. No fierce animal will go up on that road; none will be found there. Only the people the LORD has bought back will walk there.

9No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there:

Note"Redeemed" is a commercial and family word before it is a religious one. To redeem was to buy something back that had been lost or sold, land, an ox, or a relative sold into slavery for debt. In Israel that duty fell to the nearest male kinsman, who was obliged to pay the price and restore the person or property to the family.

10The people the LORD has paid to set free will return. They will come to Zion singing, with joy that never ends resting on their heads like a crown. Joy and gladness will catch up to them, and sadness and crying will run away.

10And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Note"Ransomed" translates a different Hebrew verb from "redeemed" in the previous verse, though the two overlap: this one is specifically about paying a price to release someone held captive or under a claim. Zion was the fortified hill in Jerusalem, and by extension the city itself. To hearers who had been carried off to Babylon, coming to Zion meant the end of exile. "Joy upon their heads" is a Hebrew idiom drawn from festivals, where guests wore garlands and were anointed with perfumed oil on the head; the joy is pictured as something worn, not merely felt.