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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 11:2 and Sirach 39:6

Hebrew Bible · Deuterocanon

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Summary

Isaiah describes God’s spirit resting on an ideal ruler from Jesse’s line, marked by wisdom and insight. Sirach reuses this language but broadens it, applying the spirit to all who pursue wisdom through devoted study.

Passages

Isaiah 11:2

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. 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.
740–450 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Isaiah

Sirach 39:6

Deuterocanon · Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus
4 He will serve among great men and appear before him who rules. He will travel through the land of foreign nations, for he has learned what is good and evil among men. 5 He will apply his heart to return early to the Lord who made him, and will make supplication before the Most High, and will open his mouth in prayer, and will ask for pardon for his sins. 6 If the great Lord wills, he will be filled with the spirit of understanding; he will pour forth the words of his wisdom and in prayer give thanks to the Lord. 7 He will direct his counsel and knowledge, and he will meditate in his secrets. 8 He will show the instruction which he has been taught and will glory in the law of the covenant of the Lord.
195–180 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Sirach

References

"... The Book of Isaiah has images of the ideal leader that contrast with the failing king in Jerusalem. Such positive images do not occur in the deuterocanonical books. In the Book of Wisdom, however, the idea of royal power as something given instead of being grasped - an idea that is part of the ideal images in the Book of Isaiah - is attributed to the ideal king in Jerusalem in 9:7. Solomon confesses that it is God who made him king, and not over Solomon’s people, but over God’s people. Because the divine act is described by using the verb 'to choose', which is a hapax in the Book of Isaiah, only occurring in 7:15, to describe the right choice of the Immanu-El between good and evil, an allusion to the sign of the Immanu-El arises. Solomon, the climax of wisdom, therefore, could be understood in Wisdom of Solomon 9:7 as an implementation of the Immanu-El as well. It seems to me that in the Book of Ben Sira the idea of the ideal king is re‐interpreted as meaningful for every human being. The negative description of Babel, using the word 'worm' in Isaiah 14:11 LXX, is alluded to in Sirach 10:11 in the description of the mortality of every human being. The positive description of the Shoot of Jesse, expressed by the phrase 'the spirit of understanding' (Isaiah 11:2 LXX), is re-used in Sirach 39:6. God’s spirit is not exclusively meant for the ideal leader, but can be given by the Lord to every human being ..."
Archibald L.H.M. van Wieringen, “The Concept of the City in the Book of Isaiah and in the Deuterocanonical Literature,” in The Early Reception of the Book of Isaiah, ed. Kristin De Troyer and Barbara Schmitz, DCLS 37 (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2019), 17–35.

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

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Isaiah 11:2 and Sirach 39:6

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