The Righteous Reign of the Branch
There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of aJesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
2 And athe 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 the fear of the Lord.
3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
aHe shall not judge by bwhat his eyes see,
or decide disputes by bwhat his ears hear,
4 but awith righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall bstrike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and cwith the breath of his lips dhe shall kill the wicked.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,
and afaithfulness the belt of his loins.
6 aThe wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;
and a little child shall lead them.
7 The cow and the bear shall graze;
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,
and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.
9 aThey shall not hurt or destroy
in all bmy holy mountain;
cfor the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
10 In that day athe root of bJesse, who shall stand as ca signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.
11 aIn that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people, bfrom Assyria, bfrom Egypt, from cPathros, from dCush, from eElam, from fShinar, from gHamath, and from hthe coastlands of the sea.
12 He will raise aa signal for the nations
and will assemble bthe banished of Israel,
and gather the dispersed of Judah
from the four corners of the earth.
13 aThe jealousy of Ephraim shall depart,
and those who harass Judah shall be cut off;
Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah,
and Judah shall not harass Ephraim.
14 aBut they shall swoop down on the shoulder of the Philistines in the west,
and together they shall plunder bthe people of the east.
They shall put out their hand cagainst dEdom and eMoab,
and fthe Ammonites shall obey them.
15 And the Lord will utterly destroy
athe tongue of the Sea of Egypt,
and will wave his hand over bthe River
with his scorching breath,
and strike it into seven channels,
and he will lead people across in sandals.
16 And there will be aa highway from Assyria
for the remnant that remains of his people,
bas there was for Israel
when they came up from the land of Egypt.