Isaiah 11–13

The Branch’s Righteous Reign

11And a shoot will come out from the stump of Jesse,

and a branch from its roots will bear fruit.

²And the spirit of Yahweh shall rest on him—

a spirit of wisdom and understanding,

a spirit of counsel and might,

a spirit of knowledge and the fear of Yahweh.

³And his breath^a is in the fear of Yahweh.

And he shall judge not by his eyesight,

and he shall rebuke not by what he hears with^b his ears.

⁴But he shall judge the poor with righteousness,

and he shall decide for the needy of the earth with rectitude.

And he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,

and he shall kill the wicked person with the breath of his lips.

⁵And righteousness shall be the belt around his waist,

and faithfulness the belt around his loins.

⁶And a wolf shall stay^c with a lamb,

and a leopard shall lie down with a kid,

and a calf and a lion and a fatling together

as a small boy leads^d them.

⁷And a cow and a bear shall graze;

their young shall lie down together.

And a lion shall eat straw like the cattle.

⁸And an infant^e shall play over a serpent’s hole,

and a toddler^f shall put his hand on a viper’s hole.

⁹They will not injure and they will not destroy on all of my holy mountain,^g

for the earth will be full of the knowledge of Yahweh,

as the waters cover the sea.

¹⁰And this shall happen on that day:

the nations shall inquire of the root of Jesse,

which shall be standing as a signal to the peoples,

and his resting place shall be glorious.

The Regathered Remnant

¹¹And this shall happen on that day:

The Lord will again extend his hand a second time

to acquire the remnant of his people that is left,

from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and the coastlands of the sea,

¹²and he will raise a signal for the nations.

And he will gather the outcasts of Israel,

and he will gather the scattered ones of Judah together from the four corners^h of the earth.

¹³And the jealousy of Ephraim shall depart,

and the enemies of Judah shall be cut off.

Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah,

and Judah shall not be an enemy of Ephraim.

¹⁴But they shall swoopⁱ upon the Philistine shoulder,^j westward.^k

Together they shall plunder the sons of the east.

Edom and Moab will be under their command,^l

and the sons of Ammon will be their subjugated people.

¹⁵And Yahweh will divide^m the tongueⁿ of the sea of Egypt,^o

and he will wave his hand over the river^p with his scorching wind;

and he will strike it into seven streams,

and he will make it passable by foot.^q

¹⁶So there shall be a highway from Assyria for the remnant of his people that remains,

as there was for Israel when^r it went up from the land of Egypt.

A Song of Thanksgiving

12And you will say on that day,

“I will give you thanks, Yahweh,

for though you were angry with me,

your anger turned away,

and you comforted me.

²Look! God is my salvation;

I will trust, and I will not be afraid,

for my strength and might is Yah, Yahweh;

and he has become salvation for me.”

³And you will draw water from the wells of salvation in joy. ⁴And you will say on that day,

“Give thanks to Yahweh;

call on his name.

Make his deeds known among the peoples;

bring to remembrance that his name is exalted.

⁵Sing praises to Yahweh, for he has done a glorious thing;

this is known in all the earth.

⁶Inhabitant of Zion, shout out and sing for joy,

for the holy one of Israel is great in your midst.”

An Oracle against Babylon

13The oracle of Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz saw:

²Raise a signal on a bare hill,

lift up your voice to them;

wave the hand and may they enter the gateways of the noblemen.

³I myself I have commanded my consecrated ones,

I have also summoned my mighty warriors concerning my anger,

the ones who exalt over^a my majesty.

⁴A sound, a noise is on the mountains,

the likeness of many people!

A sound of the roar of the kingdoms,

of nations gathering!

Yahweh of hosts is mustering an army for battle.

⁵They are coming from a distant land,

from the end of the heavens,

Yahweh and the weapons of his indignation,

to destroy the whole earth.^b

⁶Wail, for the day of Yahweh is near;

it will come like destruction from Shaddai!^c

⁷Therefore all hands will grow slack,

and every human heart will melt,

⁸and they will be dismayed.

Pangs and labor pains will seize them;

they will tremble like a woman giving birth.

They will stare at one another,^d

their faces flushing.^e

⁹Look! The day of Yahweh is coming,

cruel and wrath and the burning of anger,

to make the earth a desolation,

and he will destroy its sinners from it.

¹⁰For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not flash forth their light;

the sun will keep back when it comes out,

and the moon will not cause its light to shine.

¹¹And I will punish the world for its evil

and the wicked for their iniquity.

And I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant,

and I will bring the haughtiness of tyrants low.

¹²I will make humanity more rare than gold

and humankind more than the gold of Ophir.

¹³Therefore I will make the heavens tremble,

and the earth will quake from its place

because of the wrath of Yahweh of hosts,

and in the day his anger burns.

¹⁴And this shall happen:

like a hunted gazelle or sheep with none to gather them,^f

they will each turn to his own people,

and they will each flee to his own land.

¹⁵Everyone who is found will be pierced through,

and everyone who is carried away will fall by the sword.

¹⁶And their children will be dashed into pieces before their eyes;

their houses will be plundered, and their wives will be raped.^g

¹⁷Look! I am stirring the Medes up against them,

who do not value silver

and do not delight in gold.

¹⁸And their bows will shatter young men.

And they will not show mercy on the fruit of the womb;

their eyes will not look compassionately on children.

¹⁹And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the splendor of the Chaldeans’ pride, will be like when God overthrew^h Sodom and Gomorrah.

²⁰It will not be inhabited forever,

and it will not be dwelled in forever;ⁱ

and no Arab will pitch a tent there,

and shepherds will not allow their flocks to lie down there.

²¹But wild animals will lie down there,

and their houses will be full of howling creatures,

and the daughters of ostriches^j will live there,

and goats will dance there.

²²And hyenas will answer in its palaces,

and jackals in the pleasure palaces;

and its time is coming soon,^k

and its days will not be prolonged.