3 Strengthen the weak hands,

steady the shaking knees!m

4 Say to the cowardly:

“Be strong; do not fear!

Here is your God; vengeance is coming.n

God’s retribution is coming; he will save you.”o

5 Then the eyes of the blind will be opened,

and the ears of the deaf unstopped.p

6 Then the lame will leap like a deer,q

and the tongue of the mute will sing for joy,r

for water will gush in the wilderness,

and streams in the desert;s

7 the parched ground will become a pool,

and the thirsty land, springs.t

In the haunt of jackals,u in their lairs,

there will be grass, reeds, and papyrus.

8 A road will be there and a way;v

it will be called the Holy Way.w

The unclean will not travel on it,x

but it will be for the one who walks the path.y

Fools will not wander on it.

9 There will be no lion there,

and no vicious beast will go up on it;

they will not be found there.

But the redeemed will walk on it,