Fruits of Memory

Isaiah 35

Let the desert and the dry lands be glad; let the wasteland rejoice and bloom; like the asphodel, let it burst into flower; let it rejoice and sing for joy.  The glory of Lebanon is bestowed on it; the splendour of Carmel and Sharon.  Then they will see the glory of Yahweh, the splendour of our God.  

Strengthen all weary hands, steady all trembling knees, and say to the faint-hearted, 'Be strong! Do not be afraid.  Here is your God; vengeance is coming; divine retribution; he is coming to save you.'  Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, the ears of the deaf unsealed.  Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb sing for joy.  For water will gush in the desert, and streams in the dry lands.  The parched ground will become a marsh and the thirsty land springs of water.  The lair where the jackals used to live will become plots of reed and papyrus.  

And through it will run a road for them, and a highway, which will be called the Sacred Way.  The unclean will not be allowed to use it.  He will be the one to use this road.  The fool will not stray along it.  No lion will be there, no ferocious beast set foot on it; nothing of the sort be found.  It will be used by the redeemed.  

For those whom Yahweh has ransomed will return.  They will come to Zion shouting for joy, their heads crowned with joy unending.  Rejoicing and gladness will escort them, and sorrow and sighing will take flight.