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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 Genesis 3:14 and Isaiah 11:8

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Isaiah 11 describes a peaceful world where children play safely near once-dangerous animals, including snakes. Isaiah expands this image by echoing and reversing the curse on the serpent in Genesis 3.

Passages

Genesis 3:14

Hebrew Bible
12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave me, she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it.” 13 So the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman replied, “The serpent tricked me, and I ate.” 14 The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all the cattle and all the living creatures of the field! On your belly you will crawl and dust you will eat all the days of your life. 15 And I will put hostility between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

Isaiah 11:8

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

References

"... A piece of evidence that supports the assertion that Isaiah 11:6–9 offers a glimpse of the new creation is the fact that the text is later picked up and quoted at Isaiah 65:25 ... The text is a shortened quotation of Isaiah 11:6–9. Set within a pronouncement of the new heavens and earth that the Lord promises to create (65:17–25), Isaiah 11:6–9 acquires significant color in this new context. What perhaps was unclear in Isaiah 11 is here made explicit: the era of peace and justice foreseen in Isaiah 11 is nothing other than the age of the “new heavens and new earth” (Isaiah 65:17). Noteworthy is that the “viper” language of Isaiah 11:8 has been transformed into an allusion to Genesis 3:14, thus establishing a direct connection to the original creation account. The portrayal of Isaiah 11:8 that pictures young children innocently playing around the holes of vipers is replaced with the Hebrew וְנָחָשׁ עָפָר לַחְמוֹ: “but the serpent—dust shall be his food!” This is a direct allusion to Genesis 3:14 and the curse that God spoke upon the serpent for deceiving Eve and plunging God’s pristine creation into sin and ruin. The implication of the allusion at Isaiah 65:25 is that God has fully thwarted and reversed the effects of the serpent’s treachery in his establishment of a renewed and perfected creation. The serpent himself remains cursed and unredeemed as perpetual punishment for his rebellion ..."
Christopher A. Beetham, Echoes of Scripture in the Letter of Paul to the Colossians, BibInt 96 (Leiden: Brill, 2008), 66.

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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Genesis 3:14 and Isaiah 11:8

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