Isaiah 11

1 And a Rod has come out from the stock of Jesse, And a Branch is fruitful from his roots.

[Like] [MET] a [new] shoot [often] grows from the stump [of a tree], there will be a descendant of King David who will be a new king.

2 The Spirit of YHWH has rested on Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and fear of YHWH.

The Spirit of Yahweh will always be with him. The Spirit will enable him to be wise and to understand [much about many things]. The Spirit will enable him to decide what is good to do, and will enable him to be very powerful. The Spirit will enable him to know Yahweh and to revere him.

3 To refresh Him in the fear of YHWH, And He does not judge by the sight of His eyes, Nor decides by the hearing of His ears.

He will be glad to obey Yahweh. He will not decide [whether someone is righteous or not only] by seeing what that person looks like, or by listening to [what others say about that person].

4 And He has judged the poor in righteousness, And decided for the humble of earth in uprightness, And has struck earth with the rod of His mouth, And He puts the wicked to death with the breath of His lips.

He will judge [the cases of] needy people fairly; and he will act justly toward poor people. He will punish evil people as a result of what he decides [MTY]; he will get rid of wicked people because of [MTY] [their behavior].

5 And righteousness has been the girdle of His loins, And faithfulness—the girdle of His reins.

He will always act righteously; his doing that will [accompany him like] [MET] a belt [around his waist]. He will always speak what is true; his doing that will [accompany him like] [MET] a sash [around his waist].

6 “And a wolf has sojourned with a lamb, And a leopard lies down with a kid, And calf, and young lion, and fatling [are] together, And a little youth is leader over them.

[When he becomes king], wolves and lambs will live together [peacefully]; leopards, [instead of killing] baby goats, will lie down with them. [Similarly], calves and lions will eat food together; and a young child will take care of them.

7 And cow and bear feed, Together their young ones lie down, And a lion eats straw as an ox.

Cows and bears will eat [together]; bear cubs and calves will lie down together. Lions will [not eat other animals]; [instead], they will eat hay like cows do.

8 And a suckling has played by the hole of a cobra, And on the den of a viper The weaned one has put his hand.

Babies will play [safely] near the holes where cobra snakes [live]; small children will [even] put their hands into nests of poisonous snakes, [and the snakes will not harm them].

9 They do no evil, nor destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth has been full with the knowledge of YHWH, As the waters are covering the sea.”

No creatures will harm or kill other creatures on [Zion Hill], my holy hill; and the earth will [be filled with people who] know Yahweh like [SIM] the seas are full of water.

10 And there has been, in that day, A Root of Jesse that is standing for an ensign of peoples, Nations seek Him, And His rest has been glorious!

At that time, a descendant of King David will [hold up] a flag to signal to the people of all people-groups [that they should gather around him]; they will come to him to get his advice, and the place where he lives will be glorious.

11 And it has come to pass in that day, The Lord adds His power a second time, To get the remnant of His people that is left, From Asshur, and from Egypt, And from Pathros, and from Cush, And from Elam, and from Shinar, And from Hamath, and from islands of the sea,

At that time, Yahweh will (reach out his hand/use his power) as he did long ago; he will enable those who had been (exiled from/forced to leave) Israel to return home, from Assyria, from northern Egypt, from southern Egypt, from Ethiopia, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath, and from all the distant countries near the sea.

12 And He has lifted up an ensign to nations, And gathers the driven away of Israel, And He assembles the scattered of Judah, From the four wings of the earth.

Yahweh will raise his flag among [all] the people-groups, and he will gather together the people of Israel who had been exiled [long ago]. He will gather from very distant places [IDM] on the earth the people of Judah who [(had been scattered to/are living in) those places].

13 And has turned aside the envy of Ephraim, And the adversaries of Judah are cut off, Ephraim does not envy Judah, And Judah does not distress Ephraim.

[Then], the people of Israel and the people of Judah will not be jealous of each other [any longer], and they will no [longer] be enemies of each other.

14 And they have flown on the shoulder of the Philistines westward, Together they spoil the sons of the east, Edom and Moab sending forth their hand, And sons of Ammon obeying them.

Their [armies] will [join together to] attack the people of Philistia to the west. And together they will attack nations to the east; they will [defeat those nations and] take away all their valuable possessions. They will capture [the areas of] Edom and Moab, and the people of the Ammon people-group will be controlled/ruled by the people of Israel and Judah.

15 And YHWH has devoted to destruction The tongue of the Sea of Egypt, And has waved His hand over the river, In the terror of His wind, And has struck it at the seven streams, And has caused [men] to tread [it] with shoes.

Yahweh will make a dry road through the sea near Egypt. And [it will be as though] he will wave his hand over the [Euphrates] River and send a strong wind to cause it to divide into seven streams, with the result that people will be able to walk across [those streams].

16 And there has been a highway, For the remnant of His people that is left, from Asshur, As there was for Israel in the day of his coming up out of the land of Egypt!

And because he will make a highway for his people who are living in Assyria, they will be able to return [to their own land], just like [long ago] he made a path for [the people of] Israel [so that they could go through the water] when they left Egypt.