29:7 It will be like a dream, a night vision.
There will be a horde from all the nations that fight against Ariel,
those who attack her and her stronghold and besiege her.
34:14 Wild animals and wild dogs will congregate there; 1
wild goats will bleat to one another. 2
Yes, nocturnal animals 3 will rest there
and make for themselves a nest. 4
35:8 A thoroughfare will be there –
it will be called the Way of Holiness. 5
The unclean will not travel on it;
it is reserved for those authorized to use it 6 –
fools 7 will not stray into it.
1 tn Heb “will meet” (so NIV); NLT “will mingle there.”
2 tn Heb “and a goat will call to its neighbor.”
3 tn The precise meaning of לִּילִית (lilit) is unclear, though in this context the word certainly refers to some type of wild animal or bird. The word appears to be related to לַיְלָה (laylah, “night”). Some interpret it as the name of a female night demon, on the basis of an apparent Akkadian cognate used as the name of a demon. Later Jewish legends also identified Lilith as a demon. Cf. NRSV “Lilith.”
4 tn Heb “and will find for themselves a resting place.”
1 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.
2 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.
3 tn In this context “fools” are those who are morally corrupt, not those with limited intellectual capacity.