Isaiah 11

Chapter context

What is happening in Isaiah 11?

holinessjudgmentremnantmessiah

Isaiah 11 belongs to the early movement of the book, especially the section often described as oracles of judgment and holiness. Isaiah is one of Scripture’s grandest prophetic books, moving from holy judgment to consolation, servant imagery, and new-creation hope. Read this chapter with the wider themes of holiness, judgment, and remnant in view so the individual verses keep their proper weight.

¹ And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: ² And the 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 of the fear of the LORD; ³ And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: ⁴ But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. ⁵ And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. ⁶ The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. ⁷ And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. ⁸ And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den. ⁹ They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea. ¹⁰ And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious. ¹¹ And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. ¹² And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. ¹³ The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim. ¹⁴ But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall spoil them of the east together: they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them. ¹⁵ And the LORD shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dryshod. ¹⁶ And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.

Study helps

Glossary

Jesse Person v. 1, 10: Firm, or a gift, a son of Obed, the son of Boaz and Ruth ( Ruth 4:17 , 22; Matt. 1:5 , 6; Luke 3:32 ). He was the father of eight sons, the youngest of whom was David ( 1 Sam. 17:12 ).
Assyria Place v. 11, 16: Biblical region. Modern identification: Nineveh.
Cush Place v. 11: Country of burnt faces; the Greek word by which the Hebrew Cush is rendered. Modern identification: Meroe.
Egypt Place v. 11, 16: The land of the Nile and the pyramids, the oldest kingdom of which we have any record, holds a place of great significance in Scripture. Modern identification: Ain Shams.
Elam Place v. 11: Biblical region. Modern identification: Shush.
Great Sea Place v. 11: (Heb. yam), signifies (1) “the gathering together of the waters,” the ocean ( Gen. 1:10 ); (2) a river, as the Nile ( Isa. 19:5 ), the Euphrates ( Isa. 21:1 ; Jer. 51:36 ); (3) the Red Sea. Modern identification: Mediterranean Sea.
Hamath Place v. 11: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Hama.
Pathros Place v. 11: Biblical region. Modern identification: Upper Egypt.
Shinar Place v. 11: Biblical region. Modern identification: Babylon.
Ammon Place v. 14: Biblical region. Modern identification: Amman.
East Place v. 14: (1. ) The orient (mizrah); the rising of the sun. Thus “the east country” is the country lying to the east of Syria, the Elymais ( Zech. 8:7 ). (2). Modern identification: Amman.
Edom Place v. 14: Biblical region. Modern identification: Buseira.
Moab Place v. 14: Biblical region. Modern identification: Kerak.
Philistia Place v. 14: Biblical region. Modern identification: Tel Ashkelon.
Euphrates Place v. 15: Biblical river. Modern identification: Euphrates River.
Sea of Egypt Place v. 15: Biblical body of water. Modern identification: Bitter Lakes.