⁸ The highways are deserted;
    travelers have quit the road.
The treaty is broken;
    its oaths^[a] are despised,
    the people are disregarded.

⁹ The land mourns and languishes;
    Lebanon is confounded and withers away;
Sharon is like a desert,
    and Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves.

¹⁸ But be glad and rejoice forever
    in what I am creating,
for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy
    and its people as a delight.^(A)

⁵ Hear the word of the Lord,
    you who tremble at his word:
Your own people who hate you
    and reject you for my name’s sake
have said, “Let the Lord be glorified,
    so that we may see your joy,”
    but it is they who shall be put to shame.^(A)

¹⁷ For I will restore health to you,
    and your wounds I will heal,
            says the Lord,
because they have called you an outcast:
    “It is Zion; no one cares for her!”^(A)