Hebrew-English Text
I. Summary
A wise and righteous ruler will bring glory to Jerusalem. The exiles will be ingathered, Judah and Samaria will be reunited, and the Israelites will conquer their enemies.
II. Photo
Isaiah predicts a period of peace: “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb.” (v. 6a)
III. Important Verses
1-5: But a shoot shall grow out of the stump of Jesse, A twig shall sprout from his stock. The spirit of the LORD shall alight upon him: A spirit of wisdom and insight, A spirit of counsel and valor, A spirit of devotion and reverence for the LORD. He shall sense the truth by his reverence for the LORD: He shall not judge by what his eyes behold, Nor decide by what his ears perceive. Thus he shall judge the poor with equity And decide with justice for the lowly of the land. He shall strike down a land with the rod of his mouth And slay the wicked with the breath of his lips. Justice shall be the girdle of his loins, And faithfulness the girdle of his waist.
6-8: The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, The leopard lie down with the kid; The calf, the beast of prey, and the fatling together, With a little boy to herd them. The cow and the bear shall graze, Their young shall lie down together; And the lion, like the ox, shall eat straw. A babe shall play Over a viper’s hole, And an infant pass his hand Over an adder’s den.
9: In all of My sacred mount Nothing evil or vile shall be done; For the land shall be filled with devotion to the LORD As water covers the sea.
12-13: He will hold up a signal to the nations And assemble the banished of Israel, And gather the dispersed of Judah From the four corners of the earth. Then Ephraim’s envy shall cease And Judah’s harassment shall end; Ephraim shall not envy Judah, And Judah shall not harass Ephraim.
15-16: The LORD will dry up the tongue of the Egyptian sea. — He will raise His hand over the Euphrates with the might of His wind and break it into seven wadis, so that it can be trodden dry-shod. Thus there shall be a highway for the other part of His people out of Assyria, such as there was for Israel when it left the land of Egypt.
IV. Outline
1. A ruler will rise from the stock of Jesse
2-3. The ruler will have divine wisdom
4-5. He will judge with righteousness
6-8. A time of a complete peace
9. The people will be devoted to God
10. The ruler will be revered by foreigners
11-12. The exiles will be brought back
13-14. Judah and Samaria will be reunited and conquer their enemies
15-16. The exiles will return miraculously
V. Comment
No comment today. Stay tuned.
VI. Works Used
(see “Commentaries” page)
Blenkinsopp, Joseph. “Isaiah 1-39” The Anchor Bible vol. 19 (New York: Doubleday, 2000).
Collins, John J. “Introduction to the Hebrew Bible,” (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2004).
Sweeney, Marvin A. “Isaiah 1-39 with an Introduction to Prophetic Literature” The Forms of Old Testament Literature vol. 16 (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans, 1996).
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