Isaiah 35:6-10

35:6 Then the lame will leap like a deer,

the mute tongue will shout for joy;

for water will flow ¹  in the desert,

streams in the wilderness. ² 

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.

35:8 A thoroughfare will be there –

it will be called the Way of Holiness. ³ 

The unclean will not travel on it;

it is reserved for those authorized to use it ⁴  –

fools ⁵  will not stray into it.

35:9 No lions will be there,

no ferocious wild animals will be on it ⁶  –

they will not be found there.

Those delivered from bondage will travel on it,

35:10 those whom the Lord has ransomed will return that way. ⁷ 

They will enter Zion with a happy shout.

Unending joy will crown them, ⁸ 

happiness and joy will overwhelm ⁹  them;

grief and suffering will disappear. ¹⁰ 

Isaiah 40:3-4

40:3 A voice cries out,

“In the wilderness clear a way for the Lord;

construct in the desert a road for our God.

40:4 Every valley must be elevated,

and every mountain and hill leveled.

The rough terrain will become a level plain,

the rugged landscape a wide valley.

Isaiah 48:21

48:21 They do not thirst as he leads them through dry regions;

he makes water flow out of a rock for them;

he splits open a rock and water flows out.’ ¹¹ 

Luke 3:4-5

3:4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,

“The voice ¹²  of one shouting in the wilderness: ¹³ 

‘Prepare the way for the Lord,

make ¹⁴  his paths straight.

3:5 Every valley will be filled, ¹⁵ 

and every mountain and hill will be brought low,

and the crooked will be made straight,

and the rough ways will be made smooth,

[35:6]  ¹ tn Heb “burst forth” (so NAB); KJV “break out.”

[35:6]  ² tn Or “Arabah” (NASB); KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT “desert.”

[35:8]  ³ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “and there will be there a road and a way, and the Way of Holiness it will be called.” וְדֶרֶךְ (vÿderekh, “and a/the way”) is accidentally duplicated; the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a does not reflect the repetition of the phrase.

[35:8]  ⁴ tn The precise meaning of this line is uncertain. The text reads literally “and it is for them, the one who walks [on the] way.” In this context those authorized to use the Way of Holiness would be morally upright people who are the recipients of God’s deliverance, in contrast to the morally impure and foolish who are excluded from the new covenant community.

[35:8]  ⁵ tn In this context “fools” are those who are morally corrupt, not those with limited intellectual capacity.

[35:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “will go up on it”; TEV “will pass that way.”

[35:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “and the redeemed will walk, the ransomed of the Lord will return.”

[35:10]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn Heb “will overtake” (NIV); NLT “they will be overcome with.”

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

[48:21]  ¹¹ sn The translation above (present tense) assumes that this verse describes God’s provision for returning Babylonian exiles (see v. 20; 35:6; 49:10) in terms reminiscent of the Exodus from Egypt (see Exod 17:6).

[3:4]  ¹² tn Or “A voice.”

[3:4]  ¹³ tn Or “desert.” The syntactic position of the phrase “in the wilderness” is unclear in both Luke and the LXX. The MT favors taking it with “Prepare a way,” while the LXX takes it with “a voice shouting.” If the former, the meaning would be that such preparation should be done “in the wilderness.” If the latter, the meaning would be that the place from where John’s ministry went forth was “in the wilderness.” There are Jewish materials that support both renderings: 1QS 8:14 and 9.19-20 support the MT while certain rabbinic texts favor the LXX (see D. L. Bock, Luke [BECNT], 1:290-91). While it is not absolutely necessary that a call in the wilderness led to a response in the wilderness, it is not unlikely that such would be the case. Thus, in the final analysis, the net effect between the two choices may be minimal. In any case, a majority of commentators and translations take “in the wilderness” with “The voice of one shouting” (D. L. Bock; R. H. Stein, Luke [NAC], 129; I. H. Marshall, Luke [NIGTC], 136; NIV, NRSV, NKJV, NLT, NASB, REB).

[3:4]  ¹⁴ tn This call to “make paths straight” in this context is probably an allusion to preparation through repentance as the verb ποιέω (poiew) reappears in vv. 8, 10, 11, 12, 14.

[3:5]  ¹⁵ sn The figurative language of this verse speaks of the whole creation preparing for the arrival of a major figure, so all obstacles to his approach are removed.