Isaiah · chapter 35 of 66
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Isaiah 35 announces the restoration of Zion: the wilderness and dry land bloom, weak hands are strengthened, the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf are opened, the lame leap like a deer and the tongue of the mute sings. On the Highway of Holiness the Lord's redeemed return to Zion with singing and everlasting joy, while sorrow and sighing flee away.
Isaiah 35 is the answer of hope to the judgment of chapter 34 and closes the first great part of the book. It is a short, radiant poem with images of a blooming desert and a safe road. In the New Testament, Jesus uses words very close to vv. 5-6 to answer the disciples of John the Baptist, and many Christians read this chapter as a portrait of the Messiah's work and of the final fullness.
The chapter begins with the gladness of nature: the wilderness and the dry land will be glad, the desert will rejoice and blossom like the crocus, it will blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God.
Then the poem turns to people. It commands that tired hands be strengthened and weak knees be made firm, and tells those with an anxious heart: be strong, fear not, behold your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God; he will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. The lame will leap like a deer and the tongue of the mute will sing. Waters will break forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. The burning sand will become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; where jackals once lay there will be grass, reeds and rushes.
Finally a highway appears, called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not pass over it; it will be for those who walk on it, so that even fools will not go astray. No lion will be there, nor any beast of prey go up on it; the redeemed will walk there. The ransomed of the Lord will return and come to Zion with singing, with everlasting joy on their heads. They will obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
The wilderness and the dry land will be glad and the desert will blossom. Creation itself shares in the restoration God is preparing: what is barren becomes fertile.
Those with an anxious heart are told to be strong and not fear, because their God comes to save them. The strength for the weary lies not in their own spirit but in the promise that God is coming.
The eyes of the blind will be opened, the ears of the deaf unstopped, the lame will leap and the mute will sing. Jesus answers the disciples of John the Baptist with similar words, pointing out that these signs of restoration are being fulfilled in his ministry.
The ransomed of the Lord will return to Zion with singing and everlasting joy, and sorrow and sighing will flee away. The closing image of the chapter is a procession of joy toward God's presence.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: It will be glad and blossom like the crocus. — Isaiah 35:1
Answer: Strengthen them and make them firm. — Isaiah 35:3
Answer: To be strong and not fear, because their God is coming to save them. — Isaiah 35:4
Answer: The blind will see, the deaf will hear, the lame will leap like a deer and the mute tongue will sing. — Isaiah 35:5-6
Answer: The Way of Holiness; the unclean will not pass over it. — Isaiah 35:8
Answer: Everlasting joy. — Isaiah 35:10
Isaiah 35 is a chapter for the weary. Before promising the blooming desert, the prophet commands us to encourage the weak. In a Sunday school class or small group you can set aside time to strengthen someone going through a hard season, with a word of encouragement, a visit or a prayer, just as the text asks.
It also invites us to read the ministry of Jesus in light of this promise. When he heals the blind and the deaf, he is not performing isolated miracles but showing that the kingdom of God announced by the prophets has arrived. Christians look forward to the future fullness, when there will be no more sorrow or sighing, and live meanwhile on the Way, trusting that the Lord has already begun his work.
Isaiah 35 ends with the redeemed entering Zion with joy and sorrow left behind. With it the great section of prophecies of judgment and hope closes, and chapter 36 opens a change of genre: the historical account of Sennacherib's invasion and King Hezekiah.
In Matthew 11:4-5 and Luke 7:22, when John the Baptist asks from prison whether Jesus is the one who was to come, Jesus answers with a list of signs that recalls Isaiah 35:5-6 and other passages of Isaiah: the blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear. In this way he presents his ministry as the fulfillment of prophetic hope.
It is the highway on which the Lord's redeemed return to Zion. The text stresses that it is a safe road, without beasts, and that the unclean do not pass over it. Christians often see it as a picture of the path of faith, on which God himself guides and protects.
Interpreters read it in more than one way. Some see a promise of the return from the Babylonian exile, others a hope for the time of the Messiah, and others the fullness God will give at the end. The text itself does not fix a date; it presents a hope that is fulfilled in stages.