My Reading Road and Study Street of 2026 is simple; Psalms, Isaiah, the New Testament, and A Year with C. S. Lewis. As a mile marker, I am on my second lap for the first three. What does that have to do with the title of this post, nothing. I just needed to remind myself as I go on this excursion of Isaiah 35:8.

Chapters and verses are helpful, but our Cardinal and printer could have started this section with Isaiah 34:8 and gone to 35:10. Rabbit-trails are fun but I will try and stay on the path today.

Isaiah 35:8 has several words that refer to roads or places of travel, and I think it offers a contrast to something that the Assyrian Empire built. Some of these words/ideas are specific to Isaiah and this verse. (Isaiah has many times he writes about roads, paths, and ways to travel.) Rome, for some reason it given a lot credit for their road system, and it was good and allowed for Paul and others to spread the Gospel better. History, however, should call them copycats of the Assyrians and Persians (who built on and copied Assyria). How Advanced Was the Assyrian Road System? | OT in Context The Assyrian roadway was used for oppression and rule of the kingdoms/peoples they conquered. The Highway of Holiness will let the feeble, fearful, blind, deaf, lame, mute, and the simple walk on it in peace as they enter Zion singing praises to the Lord. Yes, the redeemed and ransom have a safe WAY to travel to the Father. (See Bend in the Road and Paths and Ways)

On Study Street 2026, I have noticed the Hebrew and Greek words that were used in the original text. Our concordances actually list just the root words. This Highway to Holiness verse is one that has single or limited-use words. (Yes, some deal with grammar that is beyond my Hebrew and Greek.) To go further in this study just click the links below.

• Strong’s Hebrew: 4547. מַסְלוּל (maslul) — Highway, path, road
• Hebrew Concordance: wā·ḏe·reḵ — 1 Occurrence
• Hebrew Concordance: de·reḵ — 177 Occurrences

I liked the 1599 Geneva Bible. You can compare these.

• Isaiah 35:7-9 GNV – And the dry ground shall be as a pool, – Bible Gateway
• Isaiah 35:8 Hebrew Text Analysis

If you open the text analysis link, be sure to look at the word holiness and compare the unclean person with the simple fool.

My focus was the “Highway” that brings captives back to Zion. (By the time Isaiah wrote this many people of the Twelve Tribes of Israel had been carried off by the Assyrians. So, the road of oppression could have been the path back to Jerusalem and joy and gladness.)

Hebrew Concordance: ḇə·ḏe·reḵ — 19 Occurrences

The directions these nineteen words took made me slow down and take a rest stop to muse awhile. The two in Job may not make sense right away, but lightning actually follows a path laid out in front of it and is complex and happens faster than we can see. Many of these references are for people who are on the wrong highway or are trying to get you off of the highway. Several are only a part of the whole idea and need to be read with the other part, which may also have a “path” word in it.

My simple conclusion is this; these are not little walking paths or hard to follow hiking trails. As someone who lives in a large city, these “dereks” have curbs and shoulders, lines painted on them and posted signs to tell you important things. The Father thought this Highway to Holiness was so important that He had a Book written about it and sent His Son to show us the Way.