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 29:19

29:19 The downtrodden will again rejoice in the Lord;

the poor among humankind will take delight ³  in the Holy One of Israel. ⁴ 

Isaiah 41:16

41:16 You will winnow them and the wind will blow them away;

the wind will scatter them.

You will rejoice in the Lord;

you will boast in the Holy One of Israel.

Isaiah 65:19

65:19 Jerusalem will bring me joy,

and my people will bring me happiness. ⁵ 

The sound of weeping or cries of sorrow

will never be heard in her again.

Isaiah 9:3

9:3 You ⁶  have enlarged the nation;

you give them great joy. ⁷ 

They rejoice in your presence

as harvesters rejoice;

as warriors celebrate ⁸  when they divide up the plunder.

Isaiah 25:9

25:9 At that time they will say, ⁹ 

“Look, here ¹⁰  is our God!

We waited for him and he delivered us.

Here ¹¹  is the Lord! We waited for him.

Let’s rejoice and celebrate his deliverance!”

Isaiah 49:13

49:13 Shout for joy, O sky! ¹² 

Rejoice, O earth!

Let the mountains give a joyful shout!

For the Lord consoles his people

and shows compassion to the ¹³  oppressed.

Isaiah 65:18

65:18 But be happy and rejoice forevermore

over what I am about to create!

For look, I am ready to create Jerusalem ¹⁴  to be a source of joy, ¹⁵ 

and her people to be a source of happiness. ¹⁶ 

Isaiah 66:10

66:10 Be happy for Jerusalem

and rejoice with her, all you who love her!

Share in her great joy,

all you who have mourned over her!

Isaiah 35:2

35:2 Let it richly bloom; ¹⁷ 

let it rejoice and shout with delight! ¹⁸ 

It is given the grandeur ¹⁹  of Lebanon,

the splendor of Carmel and Sharon.

They will see the grandeur of the Lord,

the splendor of our God.

Isaiah 61:10

61:10 I ²⁰  will greatly rejoice ²¹  in the Lord;

I will be overjoyed because of my God. ²² 

For he clothes me in garments of deliverance;

he puts on me a robe symbolizing vindication. ²³ 

I look like a bridegroom when he wears a turban as a priest would;

I look like a bride when she puts on her jewelry. ²⁴ 

[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.”

[29:19]  ³ tn Or “will rejoice” (NIV, NCV, NLT).

[29:19]  ⁴ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[65:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “and I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and be happy in my people.”

[9:3]  ⁷ sn The Lord is addressed directly in vv. 3-4.

[9:3]  ⁸ tc The Hebrew consonantal text reads “You multiply the nation, you do not make great the joy.” The particle לֹא (lo’, “not”) is obviously incorrect; the marginal reading has לוֹ (lo, “to him”). In this case, one should translate, “You multiply the nation, you increase his (i.e., their) joy.” However, the parallelism is tighter if one emends הַגּוֹי לוֹ (hagoy lo, “the nation, to him”) to הַגִּילָה (haggilah, “the joy,” a noun attested in Isa 65:18), which corresponds to הַשִּׂמְחָה (hasimkhah, “the joy”) later in the verse (H. Wildberger, Isaiah, 1:386). As attractive as this reading is, it has not textual evidence supporting it. The MT reading (accepting the marginal reading “to him” for the negative particle “not”) affirms that Yahweh caused the nation to grow in population and increased their joy.

[9:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “as they are happy.” The word “warriors” is supplied in the translation to clarify the word picture. This last simile comes close to reality, for vv. 4-5 indicate that the people have won a great military victory over their oppressors.

[25:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “and one will say in that day.”

[25:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “this [one].”

[25:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “this [one].”

[49:13]  ¹¹ tn Or “O heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

[49:13]  ¹² tn Heb “his” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[65:18]  ¹³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[65:18]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Jerusalem, joy.” The next verse suggests the meaning: The Lord will create Jerusalem to be a source of joy to himself.

[65:18]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “her people, happiness.” See the preceding note.

[35:2]  ¹⁵ tn The ambiguous verb form תִּפְרַח (tifrakh) is translated as a jussive because it is parallel to the jussive form תָגֵל (tagel).

[35:2]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ tn Or “glory” (KJV, NIV, NRSV); also a second time later in this verse.

[61:10]  ¹⁷ sn The speaker in vv. 10-11 is not identified, but it is likely that the personified nation (or perhaps Zion) responds here to the Lord’s promise of restoration.

[61:10]  ¹⁸ tn The infinitive absolute appears before the finite verb for emphasis.

[61:10]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “my being is happy in my God”; NAB “in my God is the joy of my soul.”

[61:10]  ²⁰ tn Heb “robe of vindication”; KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV “robe of righteousness.”

[61:10]  ²¹ tn Heb “like a bridegroom [who] acts like a priest [by wearing] a turban, and like a bride [who] wears her jewelry.” The words “I look” are supplied for stylistic reasons and clarification.