35:1 Let the desert and dry region be happy; 1
let the wilderness 2 rejoice and bloom like a lily!
35:2 Let it richly bloom; 3
let it rejoice and shout with delight! 4
It is given the grandeur 5 of Lebanon,
the splendor of Carmel and Sharon.
They will see the grandeur of the Lord,
the splendor of our God.
35:10 those whom the Lord has ransomed will return that way. 6
They will enter Zion with a happy shout.
Unending joy will crown them, 7
happiness and joy will overwhelm 8 them;
grief and suffering will disappear. 9
1 tn The final mem (ם) on the verb יְשֻׂשׂוּם (yÿsusum) is dittographic (note the initial mem on the following noun מִדְבָּר [midbar]). The ambiguous verbal form is translated as a jussive because it is parallel to the jussive form תָגֵל (tagel). The jussive is used rhetorically here, not as a literal command or prayer.
2 tn Or “Arabah” (NASB); NAB, NIV, TEV “desert.”
3 tn The ambiguous verb form תִּפְרַח (tifrakh) is translated as a jussive because it is parallel to the jussive form תָגֵל (tagel).
4 tn Heb “and let it rejoice, yes [with] rejoicing and shouting.” גִּילַת (gilat) may be an archaic feminine nominal form (see GKC 421 §130.b).
5 tn Or “glory” (KJV, NIV, NRSV); also a second time later in this verse.
6 tn Heb “and the redeemed will walk, the ransomed of the Lord will return.”
7 tn Heb “[will be] on their head[s].” “Joy” may be likened here to a crown (cf. 2 Sam 1:10). The statement may also be an ironic twist on the idiom “earth/dust on the head” (cf. 2 Sam 1:2; 13:19; 15:32; Job 2:12), referring to a mourning practice.
8 tn Heb “will overtake” (NIV); NLT “they will be overcome with.”
9 tn Heb “grief and groaning will flee”; KJV “sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”