Isaiah 11-13

Common English Bible

A shoot from Jesse’s stump

11 A shoot will grow up from the stump of Jesse;
    a branch will sprout^[a] from his roots.
²The Lord’s spirit will rest upon him,
    a spirit of wisdom and understanding,
    a spirit of planning and strength,
    a spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord.
³He will delight in fearing the Lord.
He won’t judge by appearances,
    nor decide by hearsay.
⁴He will judge the needy with righteousness,
    and decide with equity for those who suffer in the land.
He will strike the violent^[b] with the rod of his mouth;
    by the breath of his lips he will kill the wicked.
⁵Righteousness will be the belt around his hips,
    and faithfulness the belt around his waist.
⁶The wolf will live with the lamb,
    and the leopard will lie down with the young goat;
    the calf and the young lion will feed^[c] together,
    and a little child will lead them.
⁷The cow and the bear will graze.
    Their young will lie down together,
    and a lion will eat straw like an ox.
⁸A nursing child will play over the snake’s hole;
    toddlers will reach right over the serpent’s den.
⁹They won’t harm or destroy anywhere on my holy mountain.
    The earth will surely be filled with the knowledge of the Lord,
    just as the water covers the sea.

A signal to the peoples

¹⁰On that day, the root of Jesse will stand as a signal to the peoples. The nations will seek him out, and his dwelling will be glorious.

¹¹On that day, the Lord will extend his hand a second time to reclaim the survivors of God’s people who are left from Assyria and from Egypt, from Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and from the coastlands^[d] of the sea.

¹²God will raise a signal for the nations and gather the outcast men of Israel.
    God will collect the dispersed women of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
¹³Ephraim’s jealousy will cease,
    and Judah’s harassment will be eliminated.
Ephraim won’t be jealous of Judah,
    and Judah won’t harass Ephraim.
¹⁴But they will swoop down on the slopes of Philistia to the west;
    together they will plunder the people to the east.
Edom and Moab will be under their power,
    and the Ammonites will be their subjects.

¹⁵The Lord will split the tongue of the Egyptian sea. God will wave a hand over the Euphrates with a powerful^[e] wind and break it into seven streams so that it can be crossed in sandals. ¹⁶Then there will be a highway from Assyria for the survivors of God’s people who are left from Assyria, just as there was for Israel on the day they went up from the land of Egypt.

Hymn of trust

12 You will say on that day:
“I thank you, Lord.
Though you were angry with me,
    your anger turned away and you comforted me.
²God is indeed my salvation;
    I will trust and won’t be afraid.
Yah, the Lord, is my strength and my shield;
    he has become my salvation.”

³You will draw water with joy from the springs of salvation.
⁴And you will say on that day:
“Thank the Lord; call on God’s name;
    proclaim God’s deeds among the peoples;
    declare that God’s name is exalted.
⁵Sing to the Lord, who has done glorious things;
    proclaim this throughout all the earth.”
⁶Shout and sing for joy, city of Zion,
    because the holy one of Israel is great among you.

Babylon falls

13 An oracle about Babylon, which Isaiah, Amoz’s son, saw.

²On a bare mountain raise a signal;
    cry aloud to them;
    wave a hand;
    let them enter the officials’ gates.
³I have commanded my holy ones;
    I have called my warriors,
    my proud, jubilant ones,
    to execute my wrath.
⁴Listen!^[f] A roar on the mountains like that of a great crowd.
Listen! An uproar of kingdoms,
    of nations coming together.
The Lord of heavenly forces is mustering an army for battle.
⁵They are coming from a distant land,
        from the faraway heavens,
    the Lord and the instruments of his fury, to destroy the whole land.

⁶Wail, for the day of the Lord is near.
    Like destruction from the Almighty^[g] it will come.
⁷Then all hands will fall limp;
    every human heart will melt,
⁸    and they will be terrified.
Like a woman writhing in labor,
    they will be seized by spasms and agony.
They will look at each other aghast,
    their faces blazing.

⁹Look, the day of the Lord is coming with cruel rage and burning anger,
    making the earth a ruin,
    and wiping out its sinners.
¹⁰Heaven’s stars and constellations won’t show their light.
The sun will be dark when it rises;
    the moon will no longer shine.
¹¹I will bring disaster upon the world for its evil,
    and bring their own sin upon the wicked.
I will end the pride of the insolent,
    and the conceit of tyrants I will lay low.
¹²I will make humans scarcer than fine gold;
    people rarer than the gold of Ophir.
¹³I will rattle the heavens;
    the earth will shake loose from its place—because of the rage
    of the Lord of heavenly forces
        on the day his anger burns.
¹⁴They will be like hunted gazelles, like sheep without a shepherd;
    all will turn to their own people
    and flee to their own lands.
¹⁵Whoever is found will be stabbed;
    whoever is caught will fall by the sword.
¹⁶Their infants will be crushed before their eyes;
    their houses plundered, their women raped.

¹⁷Look! I’m rousing the Medes against them;
    the Medes pay no mind to silver, no desire for gold.
¹⁸Their bows will smash youths;
    they will be merciless to newborns, pitiless to children.
¹⁹So Babylon, a jewel among kingdoms,
    the Chaldeans’ splendor and pride,
    will be like Sodom and Gomorrah,
        destroyed by God.
²⁰No one will ever resettle
    or live there for generations.
No Arab will camp there;
    no shepherds will rest flocks there.
²¹Wildcats will rest there;
    houses will be filled with owls.
Ostriches will live there,
    and goat demons will dance there.
²²Hyenas will howl in its strongholds,
    and jackals in its luxurious palaces.
Babylon’s^[h] time is coming soon;
    its days won’t drag on.