Isaiah 11
1 [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.
A shoot will sprout from the stump of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots will bear fruit.
2 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.
The Spirit of Yahweh will rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of instruction and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Yahweh.
3 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].
His delight will be the fear of the Lord; he will not judge by what his eyes see, nor decide by what his ears hear.
4 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].
Instead, he will judge the poor with righteousness and decide fairly for the humble of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.
5 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].
Righteousness will be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his hips.
6 [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.
The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat, the calf, the young lion and the fattened calf, together. A little child will lead them.
7 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.
The cow and the bear will graze together, and their young will lie down together. The lion will eat straw like the ox.
8 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].
A baby will play over the hole of the snake, and the weaned child will put his hand on the serpent's den.
9 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.
They will not hurt nor destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of knowledge of Yahweh, as the waters cover the sea.
10 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.
On that day, the root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples. The nations will seek him out, and his resting place will be glorious.
11 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.
On that day, the Lord will again extend his hand to recover the remnant of his people who remain in Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and the islands of the sea.
12 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].
He will set up a banner for the nations and will gather the outcasts of Israel and the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
13 [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.
He will turn aside the envy of Ephraim, and hostilities of Judah will be cut off. Ephraim will not envy Judah, and Judah will no longer be hostile to Ephraim.
14 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.
Instead they will swoop down on the Philistine hills on the west, and together they will plunder the people of the east. They will attack Edom and Moab, and the people of Ammon will obey them.
15 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].
Yahweh will completely destroy the gulf of the Sea of Egypt. With his scorching wind he will wave his hand over the Euphrates River and will divide it into seven streams, so it can be crossed over in sandals.
16 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.
There will be a highway for the remnant of his people that return from Assyria, as there was for Israel in their coming up from the land of Egypt.
