The Reign of the Davidic King
11 “A shoot will come out
from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch will bear fruit
from his roots.
2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and power,
the Spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord.
3 His delight will be in the fear of the Lord.
He won’t judge by what his eyes see,
nor decide disputes by what his ears hear,
4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy,
and decide with equity for[a] earth’s poor.[b]
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,[c]
and the wicked will be killed[d] with the breath of his lips.
5 Righteousness will be the sash around his loins,
and faithfulness the belt around his waist.”
A Transformed Ecology
6 “The wolf will live with the lamb;
the leopard will lie down with the young goat.
The calf and the lion will graze[e] together,
and a little child will lead them.
7 The cow and the bear will graze,
and[f] their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
8 The nursing child will play
over the hole of the cobra,
and the weaned child will put his hand on vipers’ dens.[g]
9 They will neither harm nor destroy
on[h] my holy mountain;
for the earth will be full
of the knowledge[i] of the Lord,[j]
as the waters cover the sea.”
Israel Regathered
10 At that time,[k] as to[l] the root of Jesse, who will be standing as a banner for the peoples, the nations will rally to him, and his resting place is[m] glorious.
11 At that time,[n] the Lord will reach out his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that is left of his people, from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt,[o] from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the islands[p] of the sea.
12 He will raise a banner for the nations
and will assemble the dispersed of Israel;
he will gather the scattered people of Judah
from the corners[q] of the earth.
Israel’s Victory over Its Enemies
13 Ephraim’s jealousy will vanish,[r]
and those who are hostile to Judah will be eliminated;[s]
Ephraim will no longer be jealous of Judah,
and Judah will not be hostile to Ephraim.
14 But they[t] will swoop down
on the slopes[u] of the Philistines to the west,
and they will plunder[v] the people to[w] the east.
They’ll lay their hands on Edom and Moab,
and the Ammonites will be subject to them.
15 The Lord will totally destroy
the gulf[x] of the Sea of Egypt.
He will sweep his hand
over the Euphrates River
with a violent wind,[y]
breaking it up into seven streams,
and making a way for people to cross on foot.
16 And there will be a highway
for the remnant that is left of his people out of Assyria,
as there was for Israel
when they came up
from the land of Egypt.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 11:4 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read for the
- Isaiah 11:4 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read humble
- Isaiah 11:4 I.e. by pronouncing judgment
- Isaiah 11:4 So 1QIsaa; 1QIsaa corrector MT LXX read he will kill the wicked
- Isaiah 11:6 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT reads lion and the fattened calf
- Isaiah 11:7 So 1QIsaa LXX; the Heb. lacks and
- Isaiah 11:8 So 1QIsaa; MT reads a viper’s den; LXX reads a den of vipers
- Isaiah 11:9 So 1QIsaa LXX; 4QIsac MT read on all
- Isaiah 11:9 So 1QIsaa MT; 4QIsac LXX read to know
- Isaiah 11:9 So 1QIsaa MT LXX; 4QIsac reads of glory; cf. Hab 2:14
- Isaiah 11:10 Lit. day
- Isaiah 11:10 1QIsaa MT lack as to
- Isaiah 11:10 So 1QIsaa; 4QIsac MT LXX read place will be
- Isaiah 11:11 Lit. day
- Isaiah 11:11 Lit. from Egypt, from Pathros
- Isaiah 11:11 Or coastlands
- Isaiah 11:12 So 1QIsaa; 4QIsaa MT LXX read four corners
- Isaiah 11:13 Lit. depart
- Isaiah 11:13 Lit. be cut off
- Isaiah 11:14 So 1QIsaa MT LXX; 4QIsaa Targ read he
- Isaiah 11:14 Lit. backs
- Isaiah 11:14 So pap4QIsae 1QIsaa; MT LXX read the west; together they will plunder
- Isaiah 11:14 Lit. of
- Isaiah 11:15 Lit. tongue
- Isaiah 11:15 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read his violent wind