Isaiah 35

The Holy Way

1The wilderness and dry land will rejoice;
the desert plain will celebrate and bloom like a meadow flower. 2It will bloom abundantly,
celebrate with joy and singing.
Lebanon’s glory will be given to it,
Carmel’s and Sharon’s splendor.
They will see the LORD’s glory, our God’s splendor. 3Strengthen slack hands;
make trembling knees firm. 4Tell those with anxious hearts,
“Be strong! Do not fear!
Look, your God will come with vengeance,
with God’s repayment.
He himself will come and save you.”

5Then blind eyes will open,
and deaf ears will be unstopped. 6Then the lame will leap like a deer,
and the mute tongue will sing for joy.
For waters will burst out in the wilderness,
streams in the desert plain. 7The mirage will become a pool,
thirsty ground springs of water.
In the jackals’ former resting place,
grass will become reeds and papyrus. 8A highway, a road, will be there,
called the Holy Way.
No unclean person will travel it;
it will be for those who walk that way.
Even fools will not go astray.

9No lion will be there;
no ravenous beast will climb onto it
or be found there.
The redeemed will walk there. 10Those ransomed by the LORD will return
and come to Zion with singing,
everlasting joy upon their heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake them;
sorrow and sighing will flee.