Isaiah 11
Common English Bible
A shoot from Jesse’s stump
11 A shoot will grow up from the stump of Jesse;
a branch will sprout[a] from his roots.
2 The Lord’s spirit will rest upon him,
a spirit of wisdom and understanding,
a spirit of planning and strength,
a spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord.
3 He will delight in fearing the Lord.
He won’t judge by appearances,
nor decide by hearsay.
4 He will judge the needy with righteousness,
and decide with equity for those who suffer in the land.
He will strike the violent[b] with the rod of his mouth;
by the breath of his lips he will kill the wicked.
5 Righteousness will be the belt around his hips,
and faithfulness the belt around his waist.
6 The wolf will live with the lamb,
and the leopard will lie down with the young goat;
the calf and the young lion will feed[c] together,
and a little child will lead them.
7 The cow and the bear will graze.
Their young will lie down together,
and a lion will eat straw like an ox.
8 A nursing child will play over the snake’s hole;
toddlers will reach right over the serpent’s den.
9 They won’t harm or destroy anywhere on my holy mountain.
The earth will surely be filled with the knowledge of the Lord,
just as the water covers the sea.
A signal to the peoples
10 On that day, the root of Jesse will stand as a signal to the peoples. The nations will seek him out, and his dwelling will be glorious.
11 On that day, the Lord will extend his hand a second time to reclaim the survivors of God’s people who are left from Assyria and from Egypt, from Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and from the coastlands[d] of the sea.
12 God will raise a signal for the nations and gather the outcast men of Israel.
God will collect the dispersed women of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
13 Ephraim’s jealousy will cease,
and Judah’s harassment will be eliminated.
Ephraim won’t be jealous of Judah,
and Judah won’t harass Ephraim.
14 But they will swoop down on the slopes of Philistia to the west;
together they will plunder the people to the east.
Edom and Moab will be under their power,
and the Ammonites will be their subjects.
15 The Lord will split the tongue of the Egyptian sea. God will wave a hand over the Euphrates with a powerful[e] wind and break it into seven streams so that it can be crossed in sandals. 16 Then there will be a highway from Assyria for the survivors of God’s people who are left from Assyria, just as there was for Israel on the day they went up from the land of Egypt.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 11:1 LXX, Vulg; MT bear fruit
- Isaiah 11:4 Or land
- Isaiah 11:6 Correction; MT and the calf
- Isaiah 11:11 Or islands
- Isaiah 11:15 Heb uncertain
Isaiah 11
International Standard Version
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
Isaiah 11
Easy-to-Read Version
The King of Peace Is Coming
11 A small tree[a] will begin to grow from the stump of Jesse.[b] That branch will grow from Jesse’s roots. 2 The Lord’s Spirit will always be with that new king to give him wisdom, understanding, guidance, and power. The Spirit will help him know and respect the Lord. 3 He will find joy in obeying the Lord.
This king will not judge people by the way things look. He will not judge by listening to rumors. 4-5 He will judge the poor fairly and honestly. He will be fair when he decides what to do for the poor of the land. If he decides people should be beaten, he will give the command, and they will be beaten. If he decides people must die, he will give the command, and those evil people will be killed. Goodness and fairness will be like a belt he wears around his waist.
6 Then wolves will live at peace with lambs, and leopards will lie down in peace with young goats. Calves, lions, and bulls will all live together in peace. A little child will lead them. 7 Bears and cattle will eat together in peace, and all their young will lie down together and will not hurt each other. Lions will eat hay like cattle. 8 Even snakes will not hurt people. Babies will be able to play near a cobra’s[c] hole and put their hands into the nest of a poisonous snake.
9 People will stop hurting each other. People on my holy mountain will not want to destroy things because they will know the Lord. The world will be full of knowledge about him, like the sea is full of water.
10 At that time there will be someone special from Jesse’s family. He will be like a flag that all the nations gather around. The nations will come to him and ask him what they should do. And the place where he is will be filled with glory.
11 At that time the Lord will again reach out and take his people who are left in countries like Assyria, North Egypt, South Egypt, Ethiopia, Elam, Babylonia, Hamath, and other faraway countries around the world. 12 He will gather the people of Israel and Judah who were forced to leave their country. They were scattered to all the faraway places on earth. But he will raise the flag as a sign for the other nations, and he will gather his people together again.
13 Then Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah, and Judah will have no enemies left. And Judah will not cause trouble for Ephraim. 14 But Ephraim and Judah will attack the Philistines. These two nations will be like birds flying down to catch a small animal. Together, they will take the riches from the people in the East.[d] Ephraim and Judah will control Edom, Moab, and the people in Ammon.[e]
15 Just as the Lord divided the Red Sea near Egypt,[f] he will raise his arm in anger over the Euphrates River and hit it. It will divide into seven small rivers. They will be so small that the people can walk across with their sandals on. 16 Then God’s people who are left in Assyria will have a way to leave. It will be just like the time God took the people out of Egypt.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 11:1 small tree That is, a new king will come from the family of David.
- Isaiah 11:1 Jesse King David’s father.
- Isaiah 11:8 cobra A very poisonous snake.
- Isaiah 11:14 East This usually refers to the area around Babylon.
- Isaiah 11:14 Edom, Moab, Ammon Three countries east of Israel. They were Israel’s enemies for many years.
- Isaiah 11:15 the Lord … Egypt Or “the Lord will dry up the tongue of the Sea of Egypt.”
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