Isaiah 11

¹ A shoot springs from the stock of Jesse, a scion thrusts from his roots:

² on him the spirit of Yahweh rests, a spirit of wisdom and insight, a spirit of counsel and power, a spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Yahweh. (The fear of Yahweh is his breath.)

³ He does not judge by appearances, he gives no verdict on hearsay,

⁴ but judges the wretched with integrity, and with equity gives a verdict for the poor of the land. His word is a rod that strikes the ruthless, his sentences bring death to the wicked.

⁵ Integrity is the loincloth round his waist, faithfulness the belt about his hips.

⁶ The wolf lives with the lamb, the panther lies down with the kid, calf and lion cub feed together with a little boy to lead them.

⁷ The cow and the bear make friends, their young lie down together. The lion eats straw like the ox.

⁸ The infant plays over the cobra’s hole; into the viper’s lair the young child puts his hand.

⁹ They do no hurt, no harm, on all my holy mountain, for the country is filled with the knowledge of Yahweh as the waters swell the sea.

¹⁰ That day, the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples. It will be sought out by the nations and its home will be glorious.

¹¹ That day, the Lord will raise his hand once more to ransom the remnant of his people, left over from the exile of Assyria, of Egypt, of Pathros, of Cush, of Elam, of Shinar, of Hamath, of the islands of the sea.[*a]

¹² He will hoist a signal for the nations and assemble the outcasts of Israel; he will bring back the scattered people of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

¹³ Then Ephraim’s jealousy will come to an end and Judah’s enemies be put down; Ephraim will no longer be jealous of Judah nor Judah any longer the enemy of Ephraim.

¹⁴ They will sweep down westwards on the Philistine slopes, together they will pillage the sons of the East, extend their sway over Edom and Moab, and make the Ammonites their subjects.

¹⁵ And Yahweh will dry up the gulf of the Sea of Egypt with the heat of his breath, and stretch out his hand over the River, and divide it into seven streams, for men to cross dry-shod,

¹⁶ to make a pathway for the remnant of his people left over from the exile of Assyria, as there was for Israel when it came up out of Egypt.