Isaiah 35

God Will Comfort His People

35The desert and dry land will become happy;

the desert will be glad and will produce flowers.

Like a flower, ²it will have many blooms.

It will show its happiness, as if it were shouting with joy.

It will be beautiful like the forest of Lebanon,

as beautiful as the hill of Carmel and the Plain of Sharon.

Everyone will see the glory of the Lord

and the splendor of our God.

³Make the weak hands strong

and the weak knees steady.

⁴Say to people who are frightened,

“Be strong. Don’t be afraid.

Look, your God will come,

and he will punish your enemies.

He will make them pay for the wrongs they did,

but he will save you.”

⁵Then the blind people will see again,

and the deaf will hear.

⁶Crippled people will jump like deer,

and those who can’t talk now will shout with joy.

Water will flow in the desert,

and streams will flow in the dry land.

⁷The burning desert will have pools of water,

and the dry ground will have springs.

Where wild dogs once lived,

grass and water plants will grow.

⁸A road will be there;

this highway will be called “The Road to Being Holy.”

Evil people will not be allowed to walk on that road;

only good people will walk on it.

No fools will go on it.

⁹No lions will be there,

nor will dangerous animals be on that road.

They will not be found there.

That road will be for the people God saves;

¹⁰the people the Lord has freed will return there.

They will enter Jerusalem with joy,

and their happiness will last forever.

Their gladness and joy will fill them completely,

and sorrow and sadness will go far away.