This page gives you ready-to-use study questions for Isaiah 35, with a leader’s answer or discussion note for each one. It works for a small group, a Sunday class, or personal reflection. You can move through the chapter in order, or pick the set that fits the time you have. Each section includes guidance on how to use it.
Isaiah 35 at a Glance
Isaiah 35 is a picture of restoration. The first part describes a dry wilderness that bursts into bloom, and the second part calls weak and frightened people to take courage because God is coming to save. The middle verses name specific healings: sight for the blind, hearing for the deaf, and leaping for the lame. The chapter then turns to a road called the Holy Way, a safe path home for the redeemed, and ends with returning people singing as sorrow flees.
The chapter moves from creation to people and back to creation’s joy again. Keep this arc in mind as you ask questions, because the final picture is one of homecoming rather than mere survival.
Observation Questions
Use this set first, before anyone offers an interpretation. Ask the group to point to the text itself, read slowly, and name what they see without adding meaning yet. Let silence sit for a moment after each question.
Isaiah 35:1-2
1 The wilderness and the dry land will be glad. The desert will rejoice and blossom like a rose. 2 It will blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing. Lebanon’s glory will be given to it, the excellence of Carmel and Sharon. They will see the LORD’s glory, the excellence of our God.
(WEB)
Read these verses first to set the scene. The wilderness rejoicing and blossoming gives the whole chapter its emotional tone, and the group will return to this picture as they study.
Isaiah 35:3-4
3 Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. 4 Tell those who have a fearful heart, “Be strong. Don’t be afraid. Behold, your God will come with vengeance, God’s retribution. He will come and save you.
(WEB)
These verses speak directly to people who feel weak and afraid. Reading them aloud lets each listener hear the commands as addressed to them personally.
Isaiah 35:5-6
5 Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. 6 Then the lame man will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will sing; for waters will break out in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.
(WEB)
Hearing the descriptions of healing and singing aloud helps the group feel the joy the prophet is pointing toward. The vivid language is best heard rather than only read silently.
Isaiah 35:8
A highway will be there, a road, and it will be called The Holy Way. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it will be for those who walk in the Way. Wicked fools will not go there.
(WEB)
This verse introduces the Holy Way, the image that unites the chapter’s closing themes. Reading it slowly gives the group a clear picture to carry into the final questions.
Isaiah 35:10
The LORD’s ransomed ones will return, and come with singing to Zion; and everlasting joy will be on their heads. They will obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.”
(WEB)
The chapter ends with ransomed people singing and sorrow fleeing. Finishing the reading here leaves the group with the hope the whole chapter builds toward.
Memory Verse for Isaiah 35
Isaiah 35:4
Tell those who have a fearful heart, “Be strong. Don’t be afraid. Behold, your God will come with vengeance, God’s retribution. He will come and save you.
(WEB)
This verse is short enough to memorize and speaks directly to fear. Encourage the group to repeat it aloud together and to say it to themselves on a hard day this week.
A Closing Prayer for the Group
Father, we come to you as people who often feel weak in our hands and afraid in our hearts. Thank you that you are a God who comes to save and who makes dry places bloom. Open our eyes to see your glory in ordinary things, and open our ears to hear the needs of those around us. Strengthen what is feeble in us and give us courage to walk the Holy Way with those you are calling home. Turn our sorrow into singing as we trust you with what we cannot yet see. Amen.
