Isaiah 35:1

The Land and Its People Are Transformed

35:1 Let the desert and dry region be happy; ¹ 

let the wilderness ²  rejoice and bloom like a lily!

Isaiah 35:7

35:7 The dry soil will become a pool of water,

the parched ground springs of water.

Where jackals once lived and sprawled out,

grass, reeds, and papyrus will grow.

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.”