BOOK 23 OF 66 · MAJOR PROPHETS · KING JAMES BIBLE

Isaiah 11

Isaiah book home•Chapter 11 of 66•16 verses

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Isaiah 11 Overview

From Jesse’s seemingly felled line comes a Spirit-endowed ruler who judges righteously, brings extraordinary peace, gathers the dispersed remnant, and makes the knowledge of the LORD fill the earth.

IsaiahBook

11Chapter

16Verses

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Before you read Isaiah 11

Coming from

Isaiah condemns unjust lawmakers, names Assyria as the rod of God’s anger, then declares that the arrogant instrument itself will be judged; a remnant will return, and the mighty Assyrian advance will be cut down.

In this chapter

Leads into

Isaiah closes the opening major section with a short song of thanksgiving: anger has turned to comfort, God is salvation and strength, and Zion is called to proclaim His great deeds among the nations.

Key understandingExplore deeper

The proud Assyrian forest was cut down at the end of chapter 10. Against that image, chapter 11 begins with a small shoot from Jesse—God’s promised Davidic ruler emerging where the dynasty appears reduced.

The interpretive center of Isaiah 11 is the chapter’s own movement: the messiah rules by the spirit and in perfect righteousness. Read its poetry, signs, historical references, and later biblical connections from that center rather than treating isolated phrases as detached slogans.

Major truths in this chapterExplore deeper

The Messiah rules by the Spirit and in perfect righteousness

His judgments are not based on superficial appearance, bribery, or human status.

His reign transforms the created order

Predator-and-prey peace pictures a world no longer governed by ordinary violence.

The restoration reaches both Israel and the nations

The Root of Jesse becomes an ensign for Gentiles while gathering Israel’s dispersed remnant.

Connections to the rest of ScriptureExplore deeper

Romans 15:12

Paul quotes Isaiah 11:10 to show Gentile hope in the Root of Jesse.

Revelation 5:5

Jesus is identified as the Root of David, drawing from this royal-root imagery.

Isaiah 65:25

The wolf-and-lamb peace imagery returns in Isaiah’s later new-creation vision.

What is clear, and where care is neededExplore deeper

Do not reduce the chapter to personal inner peace.

The prophecy describes public righteous rule, transformed conditions, and the gathering of peoples.

Do not erase Israel from the restoration language.

The chapter explicitly names Ephraim, Judah, and the dispersed of Israel while also including Gentile nations.

Read Isaiah 11 watching for…

the shoot from Jesse

the sevenfold description of the Spirit’s work

righteous judgment for the poor

wolf-and-lamb peace

the gathering of Israel and the seeking Gentiles

Chapter outline2 sections

1-9A rod from Jesse will judge righteously, and peace will fill the earth 10-16The Root of Jesse gathers Israel’s remnant and opens a way for his people

And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:

And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;

And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:

But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.

And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.

The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.

And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den.

They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.

And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.

And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim.

But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall spoil them of the east together: they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them.

And the LORD shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dryshod.

And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.

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Isaiah 11:9

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