Yesaya 29:18-19

29:18 At that time ¹  the deaf will be able to hear words read from a scroll,

and the eyes of the blind will be able to see through deep darkness. ² 

29:19 The downtrodden will again rejoice in the Lord;

the poor among humankind will take delight ³  in the Holy One of Israel. ⁴ 

Yesaya 35:8

35:8 A thoroughfare will be there –

it will be called the Way of Holiness. ⁵ 

The unclean will not travel on it;

it is reserved for those authorized to use it ⁶  –

fools ⁷  will not stray into it.

[29:18]  ¹ tn Or “In that day” (KJV).

[29:18]  ² tn Heb “and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see.”

[29:18]  sn Perhaps this depicts the spiritual transformation of the once spiritually insensitive nation (see vv. 10-12, cf. also 6:9-10).

[29:19]  ³ tn Or “will rejoice” (NIV, NCV, NLT).

[29:19]  ⁴ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[35:8]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn In this context “fools” are those who are morally corrupt, not those with limited intellectual capacity.