Isaiah 35:9-10

35:9 No lions will be there,

no ferocious wild animals will be on it ¹  –

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. ² 

They will enter Zion with a happy shout.

Unending joy will crown them, ³ 

happiness and joy will overwhelm ⁴  them;

grief and suffering will disappear. ⁵ 

[35:9]  ¹ tn Heb “will go up on it”; TEV “will pass that way.”

[35:10]  ² tn Heb “and the redeemed will walk, the ransomed of the Lord will return.”

[35:10]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Heb “will overtake” (NIV); NLT “they will be overcome with.”

[35:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “grief and groaning will flee”; KJV “sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”