Isaiah 35:8

35:8 A thoroughfare will be there –

it will be called the Way of Holiness. ¹ 

The unclean will not travel on it;

it is reserved for those authorized to use it ²  –

fools ³  will not stray into it.

Isaiah 33:21

33:21 Instead the Lord will rule there as our mighty king. ⁴ 

Rivers and wide streams will flow through it; ⁵ 

no war galley will enter; ⁶ 

no large ships will sail through. ⁷ 

[35:8]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ tn In this context “fools” are those who are morally corrupt, not those with limited intellectual capacity.

[33:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “But there [as] a mighty one [will be] the Lord for us.”

[33:21]  ⁵ tn Heb “a place of rivers, streams wide of hands [i.e., on both sides].”

[33:21]  ⁶ tn Heb “a ship of rowing will not go into it.”

[33:21]  ⁷ tn Heb “and a mighty ship will not pass through it.”