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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 11:4 and Jonathan Isaiah 11:4

Hebrew Bible · Targum

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Summary

Isaiah 11 describes a just ruler who defends the poor and punishes the unrighteous. The Aramaic translation in Targum Jonathan adds the name Romulus, identifying an enemy as Rome. This anachronistic reference connects the narrative to later events.

Passages

Isaiah 11:4

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

Jonathan Isaiah 11:4

Targum
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. 4 But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with faithfulness the needy of the earth; and he shall strike the sinners of the earth with the word of his mouth, and with the speech of His lips he shall slay Romulus the wicked. 5 And the righteous shall be around him, and the workers of faith shall draw near to him.
200–300 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Jonathan Isaiah

References

"... “Wicked” is preceded by “Romulus” (a cipher for Rome) in the First and Second Rabbinic Bibles. As Levy points out, this figure was also known in medieval Jewish mythology as an opponent of the Jews. Levy also notes his connection to the figures of Gog and Magog, which seems to indicate that the present reading is to be associated with the interpolation at 10:32. The thesis of Levey that the reading is determinative for the date of the Targum, is therefore not tenable. The related spellings, רומלגוס and רומלגוז, appear in marginal readings in Reuchlinianus, while רומלגון appears in the manuscript itself ..."
Bruce D. Chilton, The Isaiah Targum: Introduction, Translation, Apparatus and Notes, ArBib 11 (Wilmington, DE: Michael Glazier, 1987), 28.

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 11:4 and Jonathan Isaiah 11:4

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