Isaiah 11–13

The Righteous Reign of the Branch

11There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of ^lJesse,

and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.

²And ^mthe Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,

the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,

the Spirit of counsel and might,

the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

³And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.

ⁿHe shall not judge by ^owhat his eyes see,

or decide disputes by ^owhat his ears hear,

⁴but ^pwith righteousness he shall judge the poor,

and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;

and he shall ^qstrike the earth with the rod of his mouth,

and ^rwith the breath of his lips ^she shall kill the wicked.

⁵Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,

and ^tfaithfulness the belt of his loins.

^6uThe wolf shall dwell with the lamb,

and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,

and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;

and a little child shall lead them.

⁷The cow and the bear shall graze;

their young shall lie down together;

and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

⁸The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,

and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.

^9uThey shall not hurt or destroy

in all ^vmy holy mountain;

^wfor the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord

as the waters cover the sea.

¹⁰In that day ^xthe root of ^yJesse, who shall stand as ^za signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.

^11aIn that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people, ^bfrom Assyria, ^bfrom Egypt, from ^cPathros, from ^dCush,¹ from ^eElam, from ^fShinar, from ^gHamath, and from ^hthe coastlands of the sea.

¹²He will raise ^za signal for the nations

and will assemble ⁱthe banished of Israel,

and gather the dispersed of Judah

from the four corners of the earth.

^13jThe jealousy of Ephraim shall depart,

and those who harass Judah shall be cut off;

Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah,

and Judah shall not harass Ephraim.

^14kBut they shall swoop down on the shoulder of the Philistines in the west,

and together they shall plunder ^lthe people of the east.

They shall put out their hand ^magainst ⁿEdom and ^oMoab,

and ^pthe Ammonites shall obey them.

¹⁵And the Lord will utterly destroy²

^qthe tongue of the Sea of Egypt,

and will wave his hand over ^rthe River³

with his scorching breath,⁴

and strike it into seven channels,

and he will lead people across in sandals.

¹⁶And there will be ^sa highway from Assyria

for the remnant that remains of his people,

^tas there was for Israel

when they came up from the land of Egypt.

The Lord Is My Strength and My Song

12You¹ will say ^uin that day:

“I will give thanks to you, O Lord,

for though you were angry with me,

^vyour anger turned away,

that you might comfort me.

²“Behold, God is my salvation;

I will trust, and will not be afraid;

for ^wthe Lord God² is my strength and my song,

and he has become my salvation.”

^3xWith joy you³ will draw water from the wells of salvation. ^4yAnd you will say in that day:

^z“Give thanks to the Lord,

call upon his name,

^amake known his deeds among the peoples,

proclaim ^bthat his name is exalted.

^5c“Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously;

let this be made known⁴ in all the earth.

⁶Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,

for great ^din your⁵ midst is ^ethe Holy One of Israel.”

The Judgment of Babylon

13The oracle concerning ^fBabylon which ^gIsaiah the son of Amoz saw.

²On a bare hill ^hraise a signal;

cry aloud to them;

wave the hand for ⁱthem to enter

the gates of the nobles.

³I myself have commanded my consecrated ones,

and have summoned my mighty men to execute my anger,

my proudly exulting ones.¹

⁴The sound ^jof a tumult is on the mountains

as of a great multitude!

The sound of an uproar of kingdoms,

of nations gathering together!

^kThe Lord of hosts is mustering

a host for battle.

^5lThey come from a distant land,

from the end of the heavens,

the Lord and the weapons of his indignation,

to destroy the whole land.²

^6mWail, for ⁿthe day of the Lord is near;

as destruction from the Almighty³ it will come!

⁷Therefore all hands will be feeble,

and every human heart ^owill melt.

⁸They will be dismayed:

^ppangs and agony will seize them;

^qthey will be in anguish like a woman in labor.

They will look aghast at one another;

their faces will be aflame.

⁹Behold, ⁿthe day of the Lord comes,

cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,

to make the land a desolation

and ^rto destroy its sinners from it.

^10sFor the stars of the heavens and their constellations

will not give their light;

^tthe sun will be dark at its rising,

and the moon will not shed its light.

¹¹I will punish ^uthe world for its evil,

and the wicked for their iniquity;

I will ^vput an end to the pomp of the arrogant,

^wand lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.

¹²I will make ^xpeople more rare than fine gold,

and mankind than the ^ygold of Ophir.

¹³Therefore ^zI will make the heavens tremble,

and the earth will be shaken out of its place,

at the wrath of the Lord of hosts

in the day of his fierce anger.

¹⁴And like a hunted gazelle,

or like sheep with none to gather them,

^aeach will turn to his own people,

and each will flee to his own land.

¹⁵Whoever is found will be thrust through,

and whoever is caught will fall by the sword.

^16bTheir infants will be dashed in pieces

before their eyes;

their houses will be plundered

and their wives ravished.

¹⁷Behold, ^cI am stirring up the Medes against them,

who have no regard for silver

and do not delight in gold.

^18dTheir bows will slaughter⁴ the young men;

they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb;

their eyes will not pity children.

¹⁹And Babylon, ^ethe glory of kingdoms,

the splendor and pomp of the Chaldeans,

will be ^flike Sodom and Gomorrah

when God overthrew them.

^20gIt will never be inhabited

or lived in for all generations;

no ^hArab will pitch his tent there;

no ⁱshepherds will make their flocks lie down there.

²¹But ^jwild animals will lie down there,

and their houses will be full of howling creatures;

there ^kostriches⁵ will dwell,

and there wild goats will dance.

²²Hyenas⁶ will cry in its towers,

and ^ljackals in ^mthe pleasant palaces;

its time is close at hand

and its days will not be prolonged.