Isaiah 11:1-12:2

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.
²The 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.
³He will delight in fearing the Lord.
He won’t judge by appearances,
    nor decide by hearsay.
⁴He 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.
⁵Righteousness will be the belt around his hips,
    and faithfulness the belt around his waist.
⁶The 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.
⁷The cow and the bear will graze.
    Their young will lie down together,
    and a lion will eat straw like an ox.
⁸A nursing child will play over the snake’s hole;
    toddlers will reach right over the serpent’s den.
⁹They 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

¹⁰On 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.

¹¹On 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.

¹²God 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.
¹³Ephraim’s jealousy will cease,
    and Judah’s harassment will be eliminated.
Ephraim won’t be jealous of Judah,
    and Judah won’t harass Ephraim.
¹⁴But 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.

¹⁵The 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. ¹⁶Then 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.

Hymn of trust

12 You will say on that day:
“I thank you, Lord.
Though you were angry with me,
    your anger turned away and you comforted me.
²God is indeed my salvation;
    I will trust and won’t be afraid.
Yah, the Lord, is my strength and my shield;
    he has become my salvation.”