The King who brings peace

11 A descendant of Jesse will appear, like a new branch that grows from a tree stump. The roots of the tree will give new fruit!^[a]

² The Spirit of the Lord will be with him.

³ To obey the Lord will make him very happy. He will not judge people because of what he sees with his eyes. He will not judge them because of what he hears about them with his ears.

⁴ But he will judge poor people with true justice. He will decide to do what is right for all the helpless people. He will have authority everywhere in the land. The words that he speaks will bring death to wicked people. ⁵ He will wear justice like a belt round his clothes. He will always be honest and true.

⁶ When he is king, wolves will live beside lambs! Leopards will lie down with young goats! Young cows and lions will feed together, and a young child will take care of them!

⁷ Cows and bears will feed together. Even their children will lie down side by side. Lions will eat grass, as cows do.

⁸ If a baby plays near the hole where a snake lives, he will be safe. A young child may even put his hand into the hole of a dangerous snake.

⁹ Nothing will hurt or destroy anything else anywhere on my holy mountain. Instead, people will know the Lord all over the earth, as water fills the whole sea.

¹⁰ On that day, King David's descendant, the root of Jesse, will appear. He will be like a clear sign to all nations. They will come to him, so that he leads them. The place where he lives as king will be wonderful.

¹¹ And on that day, the Lord God will bring his people back once again. He will lift up his powerful hand to rescue his people who are still alive. He will bring them back from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Babylonia, Hamath and from countries near the sea.

¹² The Lord will lift up a clear sign for the nations to see. He will bring together Israel's people that their enemies took away. Yes, he will bring back Judah's exiles from all over the earth. ¹³ Ephraim will no longer be jealous of Judah. Judah will no longer be Ephraim's enemy.^{[b] 14} But they will join together to attack the Philistines in the west. They will also attack the nations to the east of Israel. They will take their valuable things for themselves. They will win against the people of Edom and Moab. They will rule over the Ammonites.

¹⁵ The Lord will make the Sea of Egypt become dry. He will lift up his hand and he will send a strong wind to divide the Euphrates river. The river will become seven small streams. Then people can walk across it easily.

¹⁶ There will be a good road that comes from Assyria. The Lord's people who remain will travel back home on it. It will be like the road that Israel's people travelled on when they left Egypt.