Righteous Reign of the Branch
1 Then a Shoot (the Messiah) will spring from the stock of Jesse [David’s father],
And a Branch from his roots will bear fruit.
2 And the Spirit of the Lordwill rest on Him–
The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit of counsel and strength,
The Spirit of knowledge and of the [reverential and obedient] fear of the Lord–
3 And He will delight in the fear of the Lord,
And He will not judge by what His eyes see,
Nor make decisions by what His ears hear;
4 But with righteousnessandjustice He will judge the poor,
And decide with fairness for the downtrodden of the earth;
And He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,
And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.
5 And righteousness will be the belt around His loins,
And faithfulness the belt around His waist.
6 And the wolf will dwell with the lamb,
And the leopard will lie down with the young goat,
And the calf and the young lion and the fatted steer together;
And a little child will lead them.
7 And the cow and the bear will graze [together],
Their young will lie down together,
And the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 And the nursing child will [safely] play over the hole of the cobra,
And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den [and not be hurt].
9 They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain,
For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
As the waters cover the sea.
10 Then in that day
The nations will make supplications to the Root of Jesse
Who will stand as a signal for the peoples;
And His resting place will be glorious.
The Restored Remnant
11 Then it will happen on that day that the Lord
Will again acquire with His hand a second time
The remnant of His people, who will remain,
From Assyria, from [Lower] Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush (Ethiopia), from Elam [in Persia], from Shinar [Babylonia], from Hamath [in Aram],
And from the coastlandsborderingthe [Mediterranean] Sea.
12 And He will lift up a signal for the nations
And assemble theoutcasts of Israel,
And will gather the dispersed of Judah
From the four corners of the earth.
13 Then the jealousy ofEphraim will depart,
And those who harassJudah will be cut off;
Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah,
And Judah will not harass Ephraim.
14 Ephraim and Judah will [unite and] swoop down on the slopes of the Philistines toward the west;
Together they will plunder the sons (Arabs) of the east.
They will possess Edom and Moab,
And the sons of Ammon will be subject to them.
15 And the Lordwill utterly destroy
The tongue of theSea of Egypt;
And with His scorching wind
He will wave His hand over the River;
He will strikeanddivide it into seven channels
And make [it possible for] people [to] walk over in sandals.
16 And there will be a highway from Assyria
For the remnant of His people who will be left,
Just as there was for Israel
In the day when they came up out of the land of Egypt.