World English Bible
- The wilderness and the dry land will be glad. The desert will rejoice and blossom like a rose.
- It will blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing. Lebanon’s glory will be given to it, the excellence of Carmel and Sharon. They will see the LORD’s glory, the excellence of our God.
- Strengthen the weak hands, and make the feeble knees firm.
- Tell those who have a fearful heart, “Be strong! Don’t be afraid! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, God’s retribution. He will come and save you.
- Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.
- Then the lame man will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will sing; for waters will break out in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.
- The burning sand will become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water. Grass with reeds and rushes will be in the habitation of jackals, where they lay.
- A highway will be there, a road, and it will be called “The Holy Way”. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it will be for those who walk in the Way. Wicked fools shall not go there.
- No lion will be there, nor will any ravenous animal go up on it. They will not be found there; but the redeemed will walk there.
- Then the LORD’s ransomed ones will return, and come with singing to Zion; and everlasting joy will be on their heads. They will obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.”
Isaiah 34 ends with a land given over to ruin. Isaiah 35 opens with that same kind of desolate landscape singing. The movement is sudden, but it is not shallow optimism. Isaiah has looked fully at what violence does to a place and its people. Now he asks us to imagine what God can do there.
To an ancient traveler, a road through dry country was not a pleasant change of scenery. Water could mean survival; a safe road could mean reaching home. Lebanon’s forests, Carmel’s slopes, and Sharon’s fertile plain were signs of abundance that the wilderness did not possess. Yet Isaiah says their glory will be given to it. God’s future is not simply a return to the place where life used to flourish. He brings life to the place everyone had learned to avoid.
In verse 7, what the World English Bible calls “burning sand” translates a Hebrew word that can also suggest a mirage: the appearance of water wavering in the heat. Isaiah’s promise is more daring than relief from thirst. What looked like water but could not sustain anyone becomes a real pool. God will make good on a hope that disappointment has taught us to distrust.
Notice what comes between the singing desert and the opened eyes. A command: strengthen weak hands; steady trembling knees; speak courage to frightened hearts. The people are asked to care for one another before they see the full miracle. We often want proof of renewal before we dare to offer comfort. Isaiah places that tender work at the beginning of the journey.
God’s coming is described as vengeance and salvation together. His vengeance is not an invitation for the rescued to become cruel. It is the promise that what preys upon life will not have the last word. That is why the chapter ends with a road on which no ravenous beast can hunt. Holiness here is not a demand that the wounded make themselves strong enough to travel. The road belongs to the ransomed, whom God brings home.
When Jesus tells John’s messengers to consider the blind seeing, the deaf hearing, and the lame walking, he calls attention to Isaiah’s signs (Matthew 11:4–5). In him, God’s promised arrival takes the form of hands that heal. The road is not yet free of sorrow for us. But its destination is sure: grief will not follow God’s people all the way home.
For further reading: Isaiah 51:11; Hebrews 12:12; Revelation 21:4. A hymn for today: “Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah.”
Prayer: Lord, make us brave enough to comfort one another while we wait. Bring true water to the places where we have known only mirages, and lead us together on your holy way. Amen.