The Road of Holiness
1 The desert will rejoice,
and flowers will bloom in the wastelands.
2 The desert will sing and shout for joy;
it will be as beautiful as the Lebanon Mountains
and as fertile as the fields of Carmel and Sharon.
Everyone will see the Lord's splendor,
see his greatness and power.
3 Give strength to hands that are tired
and to knees that tremble with weakness.
4 Tell everyone who is discouraged,
“Be strong and don't be afraid!
God is coming to your rescue,
coming to punish your enemies.”
5 The blind will be able to see,
and the deaf will hear.
6 The lame will leap and dance,
and those who cannot speak will shout for joy.
Streams of water will flow through the desert;
7 the burning sand will become a lake,
and dry land will be filled with springs.
Where jackals used to live,
marsh grass and reeds will grow.
8 There will be a highway there,
called “The Road of Holiness.”
No sinner will ever travel that road;
no fools will mislead those who follow it.
9 No lions will be there;
no fierce animals will pass that way.
Those whom the Lord has rescued
will travel home by that road.
10 They will reach Jerusalem with gladness,
singing and shouting for joy.
They will be happy forever,
forever free from sorrow and grief.
1 The desert and the wildernes shall reioyce: and the waste ground shalbe glad and florish as the rose. 2 It shall florish abundantly and shall greatly reioyce also and ioye: the glory of Lebanon shalbe giuen vnto it: the beautie of Carmel, and of Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellencie of our God. 3 Strengthen the weake handes, and comfort the feeble knees. 4 Say vnto them that are fearefull, Bee you strong, feare not: beholde, your God commeth with vengeance: euen God with a recompense, he will come and saue you. 5 Then shall the eyes of the blinde be lightened, and the eares of the deafe be opened. 6 Then shall ye lame man leape as an hart, and the dumme mans tongue shall sing: for in the wildernes shall waters breake out, and riuers in ye desert. 7 And the dry ground shalbe as a poole, and the thirstie (as springs of water in the habitation of dragons: where they lay) shall be a place for reedes and rushes. 8 And there shalbe a path and a way, and the way shalbe called holy: the polluted shall not passe by it: for he shalbe with them, and walke in the way, and the fooles shall not erre. 9 There shall be no lyon, nor noysome beastes shall ascend by it, neither shall they be found there, that the redeemed may walke. 10 Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall returne and come to Zion with prayse: and euerlasting ioy shall bee vpon their heads: they shall obteine ioye and gladnesse, and sorow and mourning shall flee away.