✎Economics

Joy of the Redeemed

The desert and the parched land will be glad;

         the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.

                  Like the crocus, 2 it will burst into bloom;

         it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.

                  The glory of Lebanon will be given to it,

         the splendor of Carmel and Sharon;

                  they will see the glory of the Lord,

         the splendor of our God.

     3             Strengthen the feeble hands,

         steady the knees that give way;

     4             say to those with fearful hearts,

         “Be strong, do not fear;

                  your God will come,

         he will come with vengeance;

                  with divine retribution

         he will come to save you.”

     5             Then will the eyes of the blind be opened

         and the ears of the deaf unstopped.

     6             Then will the lame leap like a deer,

         and the mute tongue shout for joy.

                  Water will gush forth in the wilderness

         and streams in the desert.

     7             The burning sand will become a pool,

         the thirsty ground bubbling springs.

                  In the haunts where jackals once lay,

         grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.

     8             And a highway will be there;

         it will be called the Way of Holiness;

         it will be for those who walk on that Way.

                  The unclean will not journey on it;

         wicked fools will not go about on it.

     9             No lion will be there,

         nor any ravenous beast;

         they will not be found there.

                  But only the redeemed will walk there,

  10     and those the Lord has rescued will return.

                  They will enter Zion with singing;

         everlasting joy will crown their heads.

                  Gladness and joy will overtake them,

         and sorrow and sighing will flee away.