Isaiah 35:1-2

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!

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.

Isaiah 35:10

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 

[35:1]  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.

[35:1]  ² tn Or “Arabah” (NASB); NAB, NIV, TEV “desert.”

[35:2]  ³ tn The ambiguous verb form תִּפְרַח (tifrakh) is translated as a jussive because it is parallel to the jussive form תָגֵל (tagel).

[35:2]  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).

[35:2]  ⁵ tn Or “glory” (KJV, NIV, NRSV); also a second time later in this verse.

[35:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “and the redeemed will walk, the ransomed of the Lord will return.”

[35:10]  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.

[35:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “will overtake” (NIV); NLT “they will be overcome with.”

[35:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “grief and groaning will flee”; KJV “sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”