Yesaya 11:16

11:16 There will be a highway leading out of Assyria

for the remnant of his people, ¹ 

just as there was for Israel,

when ²  they went up from the land of Egypt.

Yesaya 35:8-10

35:8 A thoroughfare will be there –

it will be called the Way of Holiness. ³ 

The unclean will not travel on it;

it is reserved for those authorized to use it ⁴  –

fools ⁵  will not stray into it.

35:9 No lions will be there,

no ferocious wild animals will be on it ⁶  –

they will not be found there.

Those delivered from bondage will travel on it,

35:10 those whom the Lord has ransomed will return that way. ⁷ 

They will enter Zion with a happy shout.

Unending joy will crown them, ⁸ 

happiness and joy will overwhelm ⁹  them;

grief and suffering will disappear. ¹⁰ 

Yesaya 40:3-4

40:3 A voice cries out,

“In the wilderness clear a way for the Lord;

construct in the desert a road for our God.

40:4 Every valley must be elevated,

and every mountain and hill leveled.

The rough terrain will become a level plain,

the rugged landscape a wide valley.

Yesaya 43:19

43:19 “Look, I am about to do something new.

Now it begins to happen! ¹¹  Do you not recognize ¹²  it?

Yes, I will make a road in the desert

and paths ¹³  in the wilderness.

Yesaya 57:14

57:14 He says, ¹⁴ 

“Build it! Build it! Clear a way!

Remove all the obstacles out of the way of my people!”

Yesaya 62:10

62:10 Come through! Come through the gates!

Prepare the way for the people!

Build it! Build the roadway!

Remove the stones!

Lift a signal flag for the nations!

[11:16]  ¹ tn Heb “and there will be a highway for the remnant of his people who remain, from Assyria.”

[11:16]  ² tn Heb “in the day” (so KJV).

[35:8]  ³ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “and there will be there a road and a way, and the Way of Holiness it will be called.” וְדֶרֶךְ (vÿderekh, “and a/the way”) is accidentally duplicated; the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a does not reflect the repetition of the phrase.

[35:8]  ⁴ tn The precise meaning of this line is uncertain. The text reads literally “and it is for them, the one who walks [on the] way.” In this context those authorized to use the Way of Holiness would be morally upright people who are the recipients of God’s deliverance, in contrast to the morally impure and foolish who are excluded from the new covenant community.

[35:8]  ⁵ tn In this context “fools” are those who are morally corrupt, not those with limited intellectual capacity.

[35:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “will go up on it”; TEV “will pass that way.”

[35:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “and the redeemed will walk, the ransomed of the Lord will return.”

[35:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “[will be] on their head[s].” “Joy” may be likened here to a crown (cf. 2 Sam 1:10). The statement may also be an ironic twist on the idiom “earth/dust on the head” (cf. 2 Sam 1:2; 13:19; 15:32; Job 2:12), referring to a mourning practice.

[35:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “will overtake” (NIV); NLT “they will be overcome with.”

[35:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “grief and groaning will flee”; KJV “sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”

[43:19]  ¹¹ tn Heb “sprouts up”; NASB “will spring forth.”

[43:19]  ¹² tn Or “know” (KJV, ASV); NASB “be aware of”; NAB, NIV, NRSV “perceive.”

[43:19]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew texts has “streams,” probably under the influence of v. 20. The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has נתיבות (“paths”).

[57:14]  ¹⁴ tn Since God is speaking throughout this context, perhaps we should emend the text to “and I say.” However, divine speech is introduced in v. 15.