The Glorious Restoration of the Redeemed
Isaiah 35:1-10
Isa.35.1 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- יששום: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- מדבר: VERB,qal,ptc,3,m,sg
- וציה: CONJ+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- ותגל: CONJ+VERB,qal,impf,3,f,sg
- ערבה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- ותפרח: CONJ+VERB,qal,impf,3,f,sg
- כחבצלת: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
Parallels
- Isaiah 51:3 (verbal): Speaks of the LORD comforting Zion and making her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of the LORD — language and imagery closely parallel to Isaiah 35:1's wilderness rejoicing and blossoming.
- Ezekiel 36:34-35 (thematic): Describes desolate land being cultivated and becoming like the Garden of Eden, echoing the theme of barren places rejoicing and flourishing.
- Psalm 107:33-35 (verbal): Speaks of God turning a desert into pools of water and a thirsty land into springs, using similar restoration imagery of transforming dry wilderness into life.
- Isaiah 41:18 (verbal): God promises to open rivers in high places and make the wilderness pools of water, closely related verbal imagery of turning dry places into sources of life.
- Joel 2:21-24 (thematic): Calls the land to be glad and not fear because God will restore agricultural blessing (rains, grain, wine) — parallels the motif of land rejoicing and flourishing under divine restoration.
Alternative generated candidates
- The desert shall rejoice and blossom; the wilderness shall exult and bloom like the crocus.
- The wilderness and the lonely place shall rejoice; the desert shall exult and blossom like the crocus.
Isa.35.2 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- פרח: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- תפרח: VERB,qal,impf,3,f,sg
- ותגל: VERB,qal,perf,3,f,sg
- אף: ADV
- גילת: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- ורנן: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- כבוד: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- הלבנון: NOUN,m,sg,def
- נתן: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- לה: PREP+PRON,3,f,sg
- הדר: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- הכרמל: NOUN,m,sg,def
- והשרון: NOUN,m,sg,def
- המה: PRON,3,m,pl
- יראו: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,pl
- כבוד: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- הדר: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- אלהינו: NOUN,m,pl,abs,poss:1,pl
Parallels
- Isaiah 51:3 (verbal): Uses similar language of God comforting Zion and turning wilderness/desert into a place of joy and gladness — close verbal and thematic resonance with Isaiah 35:2's blossoming and rejoicing imagery.
- Ezekiel 36:35 (thematic): Speaks of desolate land becoming like the garden of the LORD and cities rebuilt and inhabited, echoing Isaiah 35's theme of restoration and the land's renewed glory.
- Isaiah 61:11 (verbal): Compares the earth bringing forth and the LORD causing righteousness and praise to spring up — parallels the blossoming/putting on glory imagery of Isaiah 35:2.
- Joel 2:21-24 (thematic): Promises rejoicing, agricultural blessing, and restoration so that fields yield abundance; parallels Isaiah 35's joy and fertility as signs of God's glory.
- Psalm 72:16 (thematic): Speaks of abundance on the mountains and fruit like Lebanon, resonating with Isaiah 35:2's reference to the glory/excellency of Lebanon, Carmel, and Sharon as images of fertility and splendor.
Alternative generated candidates
- It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice, shout and sing for joy. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it—the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; they shall see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God.
- It shall blossom abundantly, shall exult and shout for joy; the glory of Lebanon is given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon— they shall see the glory of the LORD, the majesty of our God.
Isa.35.3 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- חזקו: VERB,qal,imp,2,m,pl
- ידים: NOUN,f,pl,abs
- רפות: ADJ,f,pl,abs
- וברכים: CONJ+NOUN,m,pl,abs
- כשלות: ADJ,f,pl,abs
- אמצו: VERB,qal,imp,2,m,pl
Parallels
- Hebrews 12:12 (quotation): Direct quotation of Isaiah 35:3 in the NT: 'lift up the hands that hang down, and strengthen the weak knees.'
- Isaiah 40:29-31 (thematic): Same theme of God renewing strength for the faint and weary: he gives power to the faint and increases strength to the weak.
- Zechariah 8:9 (verbal): Close verbal and exhortatory parallel ('Let your hands be strong') addressing those called to renewed courage and strength.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:14 (thematic): A Pauline exhortation to encourage and strengthen the fainthearted and help the weak, echoing Isaiah's pastoral charge.
Alternative generated candidates
- Strengthen the feeble hands, and make firm the trembling knees.
- Strengthen weak hands; make firm trembling knees.
Isa.35.4 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- אמרו: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,pl
- לנמהרי: PREP+NOUN,m,pl,abs
- לב: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- חזקו: VERB,qal,imp,2,m,pl
- אל: NEG
- תיראו: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,pl
- הנה: PART
- אלהיכם: NOUN,m,pl,abs+PRON,2,m,pl
- נקם: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- יבוא: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- גמול: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- אלהים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- הוא: PRON,3,m,sg
- יבוא: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- וישעכם: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg,obj:2,mp
Parallels
- Isaiah 63:1-6 (verbal): Describes the Lord coming with garments stained and enacting vengeance on foes—closely parallels 'behold, your God will come... vengeance... he will come and save you.'
- Isaiah 59:18 (verbal): Speaks of God repaying according to deeds and bringing recompense to enemies, echoing the language of divine recompense (גמול) and vindication in Isa 35:4.
- Deuteronomy 32:35 (allusion): Contains the classic formula 'Vengeance is mine, and recompense' that underlies prophetic claims that God will come to execute judgment and recompense.
- Joshua 1:9 (thematic): The command 'Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid' parallels the opening exhortation to the 'fearful-hearted' in Isa 35:4 encouraging trust in God's coming deliverance.
- Nahum 1:2-3 (thematic): Portrays the LORD as jealous and avenging who executes wrath on enemies—themewise parallel to the announcement that God will come with vengeance to save his people.
Alternative generated candidates
- Say to those of anxious heart, "Be strong; do not fear. Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with divine recompense; he will come and save you."
- Say to those of fearful heart, "Be strong, do not fear: behold, your God will come with vengeance; the recompense of God is coming. He will come and save you."
Isa.35.5 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- אז: ADV
- תפקחנה: VERB,qal,imperfect,3,f,pl
- עיני: NOUN,f,pl,cons+1s
- עורים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- ואזני: CONJ+NOUN,f,pl,construct
- חרשים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- תפתחנה: VERB,qal,imperfect,3,f,pl
Parallels
- Isaiah 29:18 (verbal): Closely parallels the wording and theme: 'in that day the deaf shall hear... the eyes of the blind shall see,' repeating the promise of sensory restoration.
- Isaiah 42:7 (verbal): Speaks of the servant's mission 'to open the eyes that are blind,' echoing the same language and salvific function as Isaiah 35:5.
- Isaiah 61:1 (verbal): Proclaims the ministry of liberation and healing, explicitly including 'recovering of sight to the blind,' reinforcing the prophetic motif of restored sight.
- Matthew 11:4-5 (allusion): Jesus points to present miracles—'the blind receive their sight...'—as fulfillment of Isaiahic promises about restoration, alluding to Isa 35:5 and related passages.
- Psalm 146:8 (verbal): Uses the Lord's activity language 'opens the eyes of the blind,' a parallel expression attributing restoration of sight to God's compassionate action.
Alternative generated candidates
- Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
- Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unsealed.
Isa.35.6 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- אז: ADV
- ידלג: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- כאיל: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- פסח: ADJ,m,sg
- ותרן: VERB,qal,impf,3,f,sg
- לשון: NOUN,f,sg,constr
- אלם: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- כי: CONJ
- נבקעו: VERB,niphal,perf,3,m,pl
- במדבר: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- מים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- ונחלים: CONJ+NOUN,m,pl,abs
- בערבה: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
Parallels
- Matt.11:5 (quotation): Jesus cites the same restoration signs—lame walking, deaf hearing, etc.—as evidence that the Messianic promise of Isaiah 35 is being fulfilled.
- Luke 7:22 (quotation): Parallel report of Jesus' works mirroring Isaiah 35’s signs of bodily restoration and renewal, used to identify the Messianic age.
- Isa.41:18 (verbal): God promises to open rivers and fountains in the desert and make the wilderness a pool—virtually the same water-in-the-wilderness imagery as Isa. 35:6.
- Ezek.47:1-12 (thematic): Vision of life-giving water flowing out and transforming arid land—comparable motif of streams bringing restoration and vegetation to desolate places.
- Zech.14:8 (thematic): Foretells ‘living waters’ going out from Jerusalem to bring life—echoes Isaiah’s promise of waters breaking out in the wilderness as a sign of renewal.
Alternative generated candidates
- Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute shall sing— for waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.
- Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute shall shout for joy; for waters will break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.
Isa.35.7 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- והיה: VERB,qal,imperfect,3,m,sg
- השרב: NOUN,m,sg,def
- לאגם: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- וצמאון: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- למבועי: PREP+NOUN,m,pl,abs
- מים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- בנוה: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- תנים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- רבצה: VERB,qal,perf,3,f,sg
- חציר: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- לקנה: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- וגמא: NOUN,f,sg,abs
Parallels
- Isaiah 41:18 (verbal): Uses near-identical language—making the wilderness a pool and the dry land springs of water; same promise of divine restoration through water.
- Isaiah 44:3 (verbal): God promises to pour out water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground, echoing the moisture-restoration motif of Isa 35:7.
- Psalm 107:35 (quotation): Almost word-for-word parallel—He turns the wilderness into a pool and the dry land into springs—repeating the image of transforming parched land into water.
- Ezekiel 47:1-12 (thematic): Vision of life-giving water flowing from the temple that makes the desert fertile and produces trees and fish; parallels the ecological renewal and vegetation imagery of Isa 35:7.
- Zechariah 14:8 (thematic): Speaks of living waters going out from Jerusalem and healing the land—another prophetic motif of water bringing life and reversing desolation.
Alternative generated candidates
- The parched land shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; where jackals once lay down, grass, reeds, and papyrus will grow.
- The burning sand will become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; the haunt of jackals shall be a marsh where grass, reeds, and rushes grow.
Isa.35.8 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- והיה: VERB,qal,imperfect,3,m,sg
- שם: ADV
- מסלול: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ודרך: CONJ+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- ודרך: CONJ+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- הקדש: NOUN,m,sg,def
- יקרא: VERB,niphal,impf,3,m,sg
- לה: PREP+PRON,3,f,sg
- לא: PART_NEG
- יעברנו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg+PRON,1,pl
- טמא: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- והוא: CONJ+PRON,3,m,sg
- למו: PREP+PRON,3,m,pl
- הלך: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- דרך: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- ואוילים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- לא: PART_NEG
- יתעו: VERB,qal,imperf,3,m,pl
Parallels
- Isaiah 40:3 (thematic): Both passages employ the motif of a prepared 'way' for the LORD/His people—Isaiah 40:3 calls for preparing 'the way of the LORD,' echoing the image of a distinct, divinely sanctioned path.
- John 14:6 (allusion): Jesus' declaration 'I am the way' resonates with the 'Way of Holiness' as the authorized route to God—linking the Isaiah path-language to Christ as the locus of access to the holy presence.
- Hebrews 10:19-20 (verbal): Speaks of a 'new and living way' into the holy place opened through Christ's sacrifice—echoing Isaiah's coupling of 'way' and 'holy' and the theme of access to holiness.
- Revelation 21:27 (verbal): Declares that 'nothing unclean' will enter the new city, paralleling Isaiah's insistence that the unclean shall not pass over the Way of Holiness—shared language about purity and exclusion from the sacred realm.
- Matthew 7:13-14 (thematic): The New Testament's 'way' imagery appears in Jesus' teaching on roads that lead to life or destruction; Matthew's 'narrow way' theme echoes the ethical/eschatological character of a divinely ordained path that determines who enters life.
Alternative generated candidates
- There shall be a highway called the Way of Holiness—no unclean person shall pass over it. It shall be for those who walk on that way; fools shall not wander on it.
- And there shall be a highway called the Way of Holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it. It is for those who walk that way— even the simple shall not go astray.
Isa.35.9 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- לא: PART_NEG
- יהיה: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- שם: ADV
- אריה: NOUN,m,sg,cons
- ופריץ: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- חיות: NOUN,f,pl,abs
- בל: PART
- יעלנה: VERB,qal,impf,3,pl
- לא: PART_NEG
- תמצא: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- שם: ADV
- והלכו: CONJ+VERB,qal,perf,3,m,pl
- גאולים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
Parallels
- Isaiah 11:6-9 (thematic): Nearest Old Testament parallel of the 'peaceable kingdom'—predatory animals rendered harmless and creation transformed; both portray a restored world where the redeemed are safe.
- Isaiah 65:25 (verbal): Shares specific imagery and wording (the lion eating straw, 'they shall not hurt or destroy')—a closely related vision of eschatological peace and absence of predators.
- Ezekiel 34:25-27 (allusion): God's promise to banish wild beasts and secure his flock so they may dwell safely echoes Isa.35:9's motif of removal of predators and protection of the redeemed.
- Revelation 21:4 (thematic): Eschatological consummation language: sorrow, death, and threat are removed and the redeemed enjoy the new, safe order—parallels Isa.35's vision of redeemed walking unharmed in restored land.
Alternative generated candidates
- No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast ascend on it; they shall not be found there. But the redeemed shall walk there.
- No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast; they shall not be found there. But the redeemed shall walk there.
Isa.35.10 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- ופדויי: NOUN,m,pl,cs
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- ישבון: VERB,qal,impf,3,pl
- ובאו: VERB,qal,imp,2,mp
- ציון: NOUN,prop,f,sg,abs
- ברנה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- ושמחת: CONJ+VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg
- עולם: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- על: PREP
- ראשם: NOUN,m,sg,abs,3,pl
- ששון: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ושמחה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- ישיגו: VERB,qal,impf,3,pl
- ונסו: VERB,qal,perf,3,pl
- יגון: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ואנחה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
Parallels
- Isaiah 51:11 (verbal): Almost identical language and promise: the redeemed return to Zion with singing, everlasting joy on their heads, and sorrow fleeing — a close verbal parallel within Isaiah.
- Psalm 126:1-6 (thematic): Celebration at the LORD’s restoration of Zion: return from captivity with singing and laughter, and the theme that those who sow in tears will reap with joy mirrors Isa.35:10’s reversal of mourning to joy.
- Jeremiah 31:12-13 (thematic): God’s restoration of Israel leads to singing, gladness, and the turning of mourning into joy — the same covenantal comfort and communal rejoicing envisioned in Isa.35:10.
- Zephaniah 3:14-17 (thematic): A summons to sing, rejoice, and be glad because the LORD has removed judgments and will rejoice over Zion — echoes Isa.35:10’s imagery of enduring joy and the end of sorrow.
Alternative generated candidates
- The ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall rest upon their heads. Gladness and joy shall reach them, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
- And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, they shall come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; gladness and rejoicing shall overtake them, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
Let the wilderness and the dry land be glad; let the desert rejoice and blossom like the lily.
It shall bloom abundantly and rejoice; it shall exult with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it—the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; they shall see the glory of the LORD, the majesty of our God.
Strengthen weak hands and make firm feeble knees.
Say to those of fearful heart, “Be strong, do not fear. Behold, your God will come; vengeance will come, the recompense of God. He will come and save you.”
Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute shall sing; for waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.
The scorched land shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; in the haunt of jackals, where they lie down, there shall be lush pasture—reeds and marsh grass. And there shall be a road called the Way of Holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it. It shall be for those who walk in it; even the wayfaring shall not err, and fools shall not stray.
No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast ascend on it; they shall not be found there. But the redeemed shall walk there. And the ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; gladness and joy shall overtake them, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.