The Glory of Zion
Isaiah opens with the wilderness and dry land becoming glad, the desert blooming abundantly like a flowering field and receiving the splendor once associated with Lebanon, Carmel, and Sharon. On that basis the prophet commands weak hands and feeble knees to be strengthened and anxious hearts to take courage, because God is coming with vengeance and recompense, not to destroy His frightened people but to save them.
T1he wilderness and the dry land will be glad; 2It will bloom profusely 3Strengthen the limp hands 4Say to those with anxious hearts:
The saving arrival of God produces concrete healing: blind eyes open, deaf ears hear, the lame leap like deer, and mute tongues shout for joy. At the same time creation itself is renewed as waters break forth in the wilderness and streams run through the desert, so that parched ground becomes pools and thirsty land springs, replacing the haunt of jackals with grass, reeds, and rushes.
5Then the eyes of the blind will be opened 6Then the lame will leap like a deer 7The parched ground will become a pool,
The chapter then introduces a highway called the Way of Holiness, where the unclean and predatory cannot travel but the redeemed may walk safely without losing their way. Along that protected road the ransomed of the LORD return to Zion with singing, everlasting joy rests on their heads, gladness and joy overtake them, and sorrow and sighing disappear behind them.
8And there will be a highway 9No lion will be there, 10So the redeemed of the LORD will return