Bible Strands
Isaiah 35:1
The wilderness and the dry land will be glad; the desert will rejoice and blossom like a rose.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The LORD speaks to exiled Israel, positioned at the hinge between the book's judgment section (chs. 1–39) and its comfort section (chs. 40–55). It is the threshold oracle: the first word of restoration after the last word of doom.
The words — חֲבַצֶּלֶת (chavatzlet) is rendered "rose" in the BSB but literally means "crocus" (or hyacinth); the image is of a small, hardy flower, not a cultivated rose.
The thread — The same wilderness-to-garden motif recurs in Isaiah 51:3 (wilderness like Eden), Ezekiel 36:35 (desolate land like the garden of Eden), and Isaiah 55:12 (mountains bursting into song).
Why it lands — It names desolation as temporary and names the transformation as divine initiative, not human effort. The reader is asked to accept that the dry land is not the final state.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 51:3 For the LORD will comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; He will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and melodious song.
- Ezekiel 36:35 Then they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden. The cities that were once ruined, desolate, and destroyed are now fortified and inhabited.’
- Isaiah 55:12 You will indeed go out with joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
- Isaiah 27:6 In the days to come, Jacob will take root. Israel will bud and blossom and fill the whole world with fruit.
- Isaiah 52:9 Break forth in joy, sing together, O ruins of Jerusalem, for the LORD has comforted His people; He has redeemed Jerusalem.
- Isaiah 4:2 On that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of Israel’s survivors.
- Revelation 19:1 After this I heard a sound like the roar of a great multitude in heaven, shouting: “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God!
- Psalms 48:11 Mount Zion is glad, the daughters of Judah rejoice, on account of Your judgments.
- Psalms 97:8 Zion hears and rejoices, and the towns of Judah exult because of Your judgments, O LORD.
- Isaiah 29:17 In a very short time, will not Lebanon become an orchard, and the orchard seem like a forest?