1 The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.
2 It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God.
3 Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.
4 Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you.
5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
6 Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.
7 And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.
8 And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.
9 No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there:
10 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
<html><b>shall rejoice over them</b> (יְשֻׂשׂוּם) This is usually the sign of the direct object, inappropriate here in the case of an intransitive verb. (like יָשׂוּשׂוּ מֵהֶם, shall rejoice from them). Comp. (Jer. 10:20) “My sons have gone away from me (יְצָאֻנִי).” Also, (I Kings 19:21) “He cooked the meat for them (בִּשְּׁלָם),” equivalent to בִּשֵּׁל לָהֶם, “He cooked the meat for them.” <b>Desert and wasteland</b> Jerusalem, called ‘wasteland,’ and Zion, called ‘desert,’ they shall rejoice over the downfall of the mighty of the heathens and Persia ([Manuscripts yield:] of Edom and Bozrah). ([The Warsaw edition reads:] the mighty of Seir (and Bozrah).) <b>and the plain shall rejoice</b> the plain of Jerusalem.</html>
<html><b>and to sing</b> (lit., and sing,) like: and to sing. <b>the Lebanon</b> The Temple. <b>the beauty of</b> His glory will be given to Zion.</html>
<html><b>Strengthen weak hands</b> (חַזְּקוּ) All the prophets who brought tidings of salvation consoled Israel and strengthened their weak hands. (The word) is in the intensive conjugation, and its meaning is (the causative, i.e.,) strengthen others. If he intended to say, “Be strong, you whose hands are weak,” it would be vowelized like (2 Chron. 32:7) “Be strong (חִזְקוּ) and be firm (וְאִמְצוּ).” Now that he says to them to strengthen others and to make others firm, it is vowelized, חַזְּקוּ, אַמְּצוּ. “Be strong (חִזְקוּ), do not fear” is vowelized חִזְקוּ, a form of the ‘kal’ conjugation, meaning ‘you be strong by yourselves,’ as one says to singular (Jos. 1:6), “Be strong and be firm (חֲזַק ֶמָץ),” and he does not say, חַזֵּק.</html>
<html><b>to the hasty of heart</b> Who hurry the redemption and are troubled by its delay. <b>[with] vengeance He shall come</b> (lit., vengeance He shall come,) with vengeance He shall come. <b>the recompense of God</b> Upon the wicked ([mss.] upon your enemies) He shall come and save you.</html>
<html><b>the eyes of the blind shall be opened</b> Those who were blind, not to recognize (lit., from recognizing) their fear (sic) ([Warsaw:] this fear;) ([mss.] My fear) upon them. <b>and the ears of the deaf</b> Who did not hearken to the voice of the prophets until now, will be opened and unstopped, for I will give them a proper spirit to fear Me. He says this concerning Israel, whom he called blind and deaf, as the matter is stated (infra 42:18) “You deaf ones, hearken, etc.”</html>
<html><b>Then the lame shall skip like a hart, etc.</b> Israel, who are now lame and weak. We find that he calls the weak with an expression of ‘lame,’ as the matter is stated (above 33:23): “The lame take the prey.” <b>shall sing</b> in My salvation. <b>the tongue of the mute</b> The tongue of Israel, who are among the nations as mutes, for they hear their scorn and do not respond. <b>for water has broken out in the desert</b> For My salvation shall cheer them up, and they shall blossom like a desert wasteland, which thirsts for water, and springs break out into it; i.e., for salvation shall sprout for the crushed ones.</html>
<html><b>And the dry place shall become a pool</b> He who longs for salvation shall be saved. The prophet spoke figuratively. <b>in the habitat of jackals, a resting place, etc.</b> A place that was a desert wasteland, which is the habitat, the resting place of jackals, shall become moist, a place of grass, made for reeds and rushes, and it is not customary for reeds and rushes to grow except in a watery place, as the matter is stated (Job 8:11): “Can the rush shoot upwards without mire?” <b>a resting place</b> (רִבְצָה) This is a noun like מַרְבֵּץ, since it has no ‘mappiq hey.’</html>
<html><b>And there shall be a highway</b> for the travelers. <b>no unclean one shall traverse it</b> No unclean one shall traverse that road; i.e., it will no longer belong to the heathens ([mss.:] nations). <b>and it shall be for them</b> And that is the road of those blind, deaf, lame, and mute mentioned above. They shall travel on this road, and even if they are fools, they shall not go astray, for I will straighten it for them.</html>
<html><b>a profligate beast</b> The boar out of the forest (80:14). There is none as profligate among the beasts as the boar, and also “the lions from his thicket” (Jer. 4:7), i.e., Nebuchadnezzar, shall not be found there. <b>nor shall…ascend thereon</b> On that road (הַדֶּרֶךְ). The word דֶּרֶךְ is used both as masculine and feminine gender, as it is written (Ex. 18:20): “The way (הַדֶּרֶךְ) upon which (בָּהּ) they shall walk.” (Lit., on her.) Thus it is feminine. Comp. (Deut. 28:7) “In one road (בַּדֶּרֶךְ אֶחָד) they shall come out to you.” Thus it is masculine. <b>it shall not be found</b> any wild beast there.</html>
<html><b>with joy of days of yore</b> (Heb. שִׂמְחַתעוֹלָם, joy that is from days of yore, which they already experienced on the way of their Exodus from Egypt, “and the Lord was going before them by day” (Ex. 13:21). <b>shall flee</b> The sadness and the sighing shall flee from them.</html>