Isaiah 11–13

The Peaceful Kingdom

¹¹A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse,

and a branch shall growⁿ out of his roots.^*

²The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,

the spirit of wisdom and understanding,

the spirit of counsel and might,

the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.^*

³His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.

He shall not judge by what his eyes see

or decide by what his ears hear,^*

⁴but with righteousness he shall judge for the poor

and decide with equity for the oppressed of the earth;

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

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

⁵Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist

and faithfulness the belt around his loins.^*

⁶The wolf shall live with the lamb;

the leopard shall lie down with the kid;

the calf and the lion will feed^o 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 asp,

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

⁹They will not hurt or destroy

on all my holy mountain,

for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord

as the waters cover the sea.^*

Return of the Remnant of Israel and Judah

¹⁰On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious.^*

¹¹On that day the Lord will again raise^p his hand to recover the remnant that is left of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea.^*

¹²He will raise a signal for the nations

and will assemble the outcasts of Israel

and gather the dispersed of Judah

from the four corners of the earth.^*

¹³The jealousy of Ephraim shall depart;

the hostility of Judah shall be cut off;

Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah,

and Judah shall not be hostile toward Ephraim.^*

¹⁴But they shall swoop down on the backs of the Philistines in the west;

together they shall plunder the people of the east.

They shall put forth their hand against Edom and Moab,

and the Ammonites shall obey them.^*

¹⁵And the Lord will dry up^q

the tongue of the sea of Egypt

and will wave his hand over the River

with his scorching wind

and will split it into seven channels

and make a way to cross on foot;^*

¹⁶so there shall be a highway from Assyria

for the remnant that is left of his people,

as there was for Israel

when they came up from the land of Egypt.^*

Thanksgiving and Praise

¹²You will say on that day:

“I will give thanks to you, O Lord,

for though you were angry with me,

your anger turned away,

and you comforted me.^*

²Surely God is my salvation;

I will trust and will not be afraid,

for the Lord^r is my strength and my might;

he has become my salvation.”^*

³With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.^{* 4}And you will say on that day:

“Give thanks to the Lord;

call on his name;

make known his deeds among the nations;

proclaim that his name is exalted.

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

let this be known in all the earth.^*

⁶Shout aloud and sing for joy, O royal^s Zion,

for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”^*

Proclamation against Babylon

¹³The oracle concerning Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz saw.^*

²On a bare hill raise a signal;

cry aloud to them;

wave the hand for them to enter

the gates of the nobles.^*

³I myself have commanded my consecrated ones,

have summoned my warriors, my proudly exulting ones,

to execute my anger.^t*

⁴Listen, a tumult on the mountains

as of a great multitude!

Listen, an uproar of kingdoms,

of nations gathering together!

The Lord of hosts is mustering

an army for battle.^*

⁵They come from a distant land,

from the end of the heavens,

the Lord and the weapons of his indignation,

to destroy the whole earth.^*

⁶Wail, for the day of the Lord is near;

it will come like destruction from the Almighty!^u*

⁷Therefore all hands will be feeble,

and every human heart will melt,^*

⁸and they will be terrified.

Pangs and agony will seize them;

they will be in anguish like a woman in labor.

They will look aghast at one another;

their faces will be aflame.^*

⁹See, the day of the Lord is coming,

cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,

to make the earth a desolation

and to destroy its sinners from it.^*

¹⁰For the stars of the heavens and their constellations

will not give their light;

the sun will be dark at its rising,

and the moon will not shed its light.^*

¹¹I will punish the world for its evil

and the wicked for their iniquity;

I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant

and lay low the insolence of tyrants.^*

¹²I will make mortals more rare than fine gold

and humans than the gold of Ophir.

¹³Therefore I 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.^*

¹⁴Like a gazelle on the run

or like sheep with no one to gather them,

all will turn back to their own people,

and all will flee to their own lands.^*

¹⁵Whoever is found will be thrust through,

and whoever is caught will fall by the sword.

¹⁶Their infants will be dashed to pieces

before their eyes;

their houses will be plundered

and their wives raped.^*

¹⁷See, I am stirring up the Medes against them,

who have no regard for silver

and do not delight in gold.^*

¹⁸Their bows will slaughter the young men;

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

their eyes will not pity children.^*

¹⁹And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms,

the splendor and pride of the Chaldeans,

will be like Sodom and Gomorrah

when God overthrew them.^*

²⁰It will never be inhabited

or lived in for all generations;

Arabs will not pitch their tents there;

shepherds will not make their flocks lie down there.^*

²¹But wild animals will lie down there,

and its houses will be full of howling creatures;

there ostriches will live,

and there goat-demons will dance.^*

²²Hyenas will cry in its towers

and jackals in the pleasant palaces;

its time is close at hand;

and its days will not be prolonged.^*