The Desert Shall Rejoice and Blossom
1 The wilderness and the dry land will be glad. The desert will rejoice and blossom like a rose. 2 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 Yahweh’s glory, the excellence of our God. 3 Strengthen the weak hands, and make the feeble knees firm. 4 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. 5 Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. 6 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. 7 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. 8 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. 9 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. 10 Then Yahweh’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.”
The desolation of the previous chapter answered acre for acre, and a road built so plain that fools cannot get lost on it.
The wilderness and the dry land will be glad. The desert will rejoice and blossom like a rose.
Ten verses answering the chapter before, item for item. That one turned streams to pitch and gave a country to owls; this one waters a desert and gives it a road.
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 Yahweh’s glory, the excellence of our God.
The three most fertile places in the region, all of which were stripped bare two chapters earlier Isaiah 33:9. Their glory is transferred to the wasteland.
3 Strengthen the weak hands, and make the feeble knees firm. 4 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.
An instruction to the reader rather than a promise, and the letter to the Hebrews quotes it to a discouraged congregation Hebrews 12:12. The hands and knees named are the two that give way first in exhaustion.
5 Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. 6 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.
Four disabilities and four reversals, and Jesus sends this list back to John in prison as the answer to whether he is the one Matthew 11:5. The lame man does not merely walk; the mute does not merely speak. One leaps and the other sings, which is more than the repair required.
6 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. 7 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.
The phrase describes the mirage that torments desert travelers — shimmering heat that looks like water. It becomes water.
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.
The book's third highway, and this one has a name and a restriction. The Hebrew of the last clause is difficult and the English translations divide, but the plain sense is that the road is so clearly marked that even a simpleton cannot wander off it. Whatever else the way is, it does not require cleverness.
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.
The road is safe as well as plain, which are the two things a traveler in that country wanted and never had.
Then Yahweh’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.”
The first half of the book ends here, and the last image is of people walking home on a road, singing. The four chapters that follow are narrative, and after them the book begins again with a voice telling someone to build exactly this highway.
settled What this mark means