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.
35:3 Strengthen the hands that have gone limp,
steady the knees that shake! 6
35:4 Tell those who panic, 7
“Be strong! Do not fear!
Look, your God comes to avenge!
With divine retribution he comes to deliver you.” 8
35:5 Then blind eyes will open,
deaf ears will hear.
35:6 Then the lame will leap like a deer,
the mute tongue will shout for joy;
for water will flow 9 in the desert,
streams in the wilderness. 10
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.”
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 “staggering knees”; KJV, ASV, NRSV “feeble knees”; NIV “knees that give way.”
7 tn Heb “Say to the hasty of heart,” i.e., those whose hearts beat quickly from fear.
8 tn The jussive form וְיֹשַׁעֲכֶם (vÿyosha’akhem), which is subordinated to the preceding imperfect with vav conjunctive, indicates purpose.
9 tn Heb “burst forth” (so NAB); KJV “break out.”
10 tn Or “Arabah” (NASB); KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT “desert.”