Isaiah 11

Good News Translation

The Peaceful Kingdom

11 ^(A)The royal line of David is like a tree that has been cut down; but just as new branches sprout from a stump, so a new king will arise from among David's descendants.

²The spirit of the Lord will give him wisdom
    and the knowledge and skill to rule his people.
He will know the Lord's will and honor him,
³    and find pleasure in obeying him.
He will not judge by appearance or hearsay;
⁴    ^(B)he will judge the poor fairly
    and defend the rights of the helpless.
At his command the people will be punished,
    and evil persons will die.
⁵^(C)He will rule his people with justice and integrity.

⁶^(D)Wolves and sheep will live together in peace,
    and leopards will lie down with young goats.
Calves and lion cubs will feed^[a] together,
    and little children will take care of them.
⁷Cows and bears will eat together,
    and their calves and cubs will lie down in peace.
Lions will eat straw as cattle do.
⁸Even a baby will not be harmed
    if it plays near a poisonous snake.
⁹^(E)On Zion, God's sacred hill,
    there will be nothing harmful or evil.
The land will be as full of knowledge of the Lord
    as the seas are full of water.

The Exiled People Will Return

¹⁰^(F)A day is coming when the new king from the royal line of David will be a symbol to the nations. They will gather in his royal city and give him honor. ¹¹When that day comes, the Lord will once again use his power and bring back home those of his people who are left in Assyria and Egypt, in the lands of Pathros, Ethiopia,^[b] Elam, Babylonia, and Hamath, and in the coastlands and on the islands of the sea. ¹²The Lord will raise a signal flag to show the nations that he is gathering together again the scattered people of Israel and Judah and bringing them back from the four corners of the earth. ¹³The kingdom of Israel will not be jealous of Judah any more, and Judah will not be the enemy of Israel. ¹⁴Together they will attack the Philistines on the west and plunder the people who live to the east. They will conquer the people of Edom and Moab, and the people of Ammon will obey them. ¹⁵^(G)The Lord will dry up the Gulf of Suez, and he will bring a hot wind to dry up the Euphrates, leaving only seven tiny streams, so that anyone can walk across. ¹⁶There will be a highway out of Assyria for those of his people Israel who have survived there, just as there was for their ancestors when they left Egypt.

Footnotes

Isaiah 11:6 Some ancient translations will feed; Hebrew and well-fed cattle.
Isaiah 11:11 Hebrew Cush: Cush is the ancient name of the extensive territory south of the First Cataract of the Nile River. This region was called Ethiopia in Graeco-Roman times, and included within its borders most of modern Sudan and some of present-day Ethiopia (Abyssinia).