Go to Related Reading
About this book

Isaiah

About this book
Chapter 11

1 A shoot will grow out of Jesse’s root stock, a bud will sprout from his roots.⁠ 2 The Lord’s Spirit will rest on him—a⁠ Spirit that gives extraordinary wisdom, a Spirit that provides the ability to execute plans,⁠ a Spirit that produces absolute loyalty to the Lord.⁠ 3 His smelling is in the fear of the Lord7.⁠ He will not judge by mere appearances or make decisions on the basis of hearsay. 4 He will treat the poor fairly and make right decisions for the downtrodden of the earth.⁠ He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth and order the wicked to be executed.⁠ 5 Justice will be like a belt around his waist, integrity will be like a belt around his hips. 6 A wolf will reside with a lamb, and a leopard will lie down with a young goat; an ox and a young lion will graze together, as a small child leads them along.⁠ 7 A cow and a bear will graze together, their young will lie down together. A lion, like an ox, will eat straw. 8 A baby will play over the hole of a snake; over the nest of a serpent an infant will put his hand.⁠ 9 They will no longer injure or destroy on my entire royal mountain. For there will be universal submission to the Lord’s sovereignty, just as the waters completely cover the sea.⁠ 10 At that time a root from Jesse will stand like a signal flag for the nations.⁠ Nations will look to him for guidance, and his residence will be majestic. 11 At that time the Lord will again lift his hand to reclaim the remnant of his people from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and the seacoasts.⁠ 12 He will lift a signal flag for the nations; he will gather Israel’s dispersed people and assemble Judah’s scattered people from the four corners of the earth. 13 Ephraim’s jealousy will end, and Judah’s hostility will be eliminated. Ephraim will no longer be jealous of Judah, and Judah will no longer be hostile toward Ephraim. 14 They will swoop down on the Philistine hills to the west; together they will loot the people of the east. They will take over Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites will be their subjects. 15 The Lord will divide the gulf of the Egyptian Sea; he will wave his hand over the Euphrates River and send a strong wind; he will turn it into seven dried-up streams and enable them to walk across in their sandals.⁠ 16 There will be a highway leading out of Assyria for the remnant of his people,⁠ just as there was for Israel, when they went up from the land of Egypt.

Texts in conversation

Compare Isaiah 11:1 and Jonathan Isaiah 11:1

Hebrew Bible · Targum

Share:

Summary

Isaiah 11 describes a future ruler from Jesse’s line, referred to as a “shoot”, given divine wisdom and perfect judgment. The Aramaic translation in Targum Jonathan interprets this figure, and the use of “shoot”, as a reference to a future Messiah.

Passages

Isaiah 11:1

Hebrew Bible
1 A shoot will grow out of Jesse’s root stock, a bud will sprout from his roots. 2 The Lord’s Spirit will rest on him—a Spirit that gives extraordinary wisdom, a Spirit that provides the ability to execute plans, a Spirit that produces absolute loyalty to the Lord. 3 His smelling is in the fear of the Lord7. He will not judge by mere appearances or make decisions on the basis of hearsay.
740–450 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Isaiah

Jonathan Isaiah 11:1

Targum
1 And a king shall come forth from the sons of Jesse, and from his children’s children the Messiah shall be anointed. 2 And there shall dwell upon him the spirit of prophecy from before the LORD: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD. 3 He shall bring him to the fear of the LORD; and he shall not judge according to the sight of His eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears.
200–300 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Jonathan Isaiah

References

"... In John’s final scene of God’s active judgment in history, John used similar targumic language to portray Jesus as God’s agent to deliver that judgment. Several other targumic passages suggest that John may have understood Jesus as the Memra in his vision of divine judgment. Targum Isaiah 11:4 provides the background for several of the themes from Revelation 19, but attributes God’s smiting judgment to the Memra rather than the “rod” from the Messiah’s mouth ... Targum Isaiah interprets the “shoot” and “branch” from the Hebrew Bible as the “king” and “Messiah” to be raised up from the sons of Jesse. The Spirit-filled Messiah in Isaiah 11 will “smite the sinners of the land by the Memra of his mouth.” ..."
Adam J. Howell, The Meaning of Memra, Shekinah, and Yeqara and Their Theological Use in the New Testament (Southern Baptist Theological seminary, 2012), 37–84.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

Your feedback

Isaiah 11:1 and Jonathan Isaiah 11:1

Leave a comment

Your questions and comments are welcome!

Comments

Glossary

Search the Library