The Peaceful Kingdom
1 The royal line of David is like a tree that has been cut down; but just as new branches sprout from a stump, so a new king will arise from among David's descendants.
2 The spirit of the Lord will give him wisdom
and the knowledge and skill to rule his people.
He will know the Lord's will and honor him,
3 and find pleasure in obeying him.
He will not judge by appearance or hearsay;
4 he will judge the poor fairly
and defend the rights of the helpless.
At his command the people will be punished,
and evil persons will die.
5 He will rule his people with justice and integrity.
6 Wolves and sheep will live together in peace,
and leopards will lie down with young goats.
Calves and lion cubs will feed together,
and little children will take care of them.
7 Cows and bears will eat together,
and their calves and cubs will lie down in peace.
Lions will eat straw as cattle do.
8 Even a baby will not be harmed
if it plays near a poisonous snake.
9 On Zion, God's sacred hill,
there will be nothing harmful or evil.
The land will be as full of knowledge of the Lord
as the seas are full of water.
The Exiled People Will Return
10 A day is coming when the new king from the royal line of David will be a symbol to the nations. They will gather in his royal city and give him honor. 11 When that day comes, the Lord will once again use his power and bring back home those of his people who are left in Assyria and Egypt, in the lands of Pathros, Ethiopia, Elam, Babylonia, and Hamath, and in the coastlands and on the islands of the sea. 12 The Lord will raise a signal flag to show the nations that he is gathering together again the scattered people of Israel and Judah and bringing them back from the four corners of the earth. 13 The kingdom of Israel will not be jealous of Judah any more, and Judah will not be the enemy of Israel. 14 Together they will attack the Philistines on the west and plunder the people who live to the east. They will conquer the people of Edom and Moab, and the people of Ammon will obey them. 15 The Lord will dry up the Gulf of Suez, and he will bring a hot wind to dry up the Euphrates, leaving only seven tiny streams, so that anyone can walk across. 16 There will be a highway out of Assyria for those of his people Israel who have survived there, just as there was for their ancestors when they left Egypt.
1 But there shall come a rodde foorth of the stocke of Ishai, and a grasse shall growe out of his rootes. 2 And the Spirite of the Lord shall rest vpon him: the Spirite of wisedome and vnderstanding, the Spirite of counsell and strength, the Spirite of knowledge, and of the feare of the Lord, 3 And shall make him prudent in the feare of the Lord: for he shall not iudge after the sight of his eies, neither reproue by ye hearing of his eares. 4 But with righteousnesse shall he iudge the poore, and with equitie shall he reprooue for the meeke of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lippes shall he slay the wicked. 5 And iustice shall be ye girdle of his loynes, and faithfulnesse the girdle of his reines. 6 The wolfe also shall dwell with the lambe, and the leopard shall lie with the kid, and the calfe, and the lyon, and the fat beast together, and a litle childe shall leade them. 7 And the kow and the beare shall feede: their yong ones shall lie together: and the lyon shall eate strawe like the bullocke. 8 And the sucking childe shall play vpon the hole of the aspe, and the wained childe shall put his hand vpon the cockatrice hole. 9 Then shall none hurt nor destroy in all the mountaine of mine holines: for the earth shalbe full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters that couer the sea. 10 And in that day the roote of Ishai, which shall stand vp for a signe vnto the people, the nations shall seeke vnto it, and his rest shall be glorious. 11 And in the same day shall the Lord stretche out his hand againe the second time, to possesse the remnant of his people, (which shalbe left) of Asshur, and of Egypt, and of Pathros, and of Ethiopia, and of Elam, and of Shinear, and of Hamath, and of the yles of the sea. 12 And he shall set vp a signe to the nations, and assemble the dispersed of Israel, and gather the scattered of Iudah from the foure corners of the worlde. 13 The hatred also of Ephraim shall depart, and the aduersaries of Iudah shalbe cut off: Ephraim shall not enuie Iudah, neither shall Iudah vexe Ephraim: 14 But they shall flee vpon the shoulders of the Philistims toward the West: they shall spoyle them of the East together: Edom and Moab shall be the stretching out of their hands, and the children of Ammon in their obedience. 15 The Lord also shall vtterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptians sea, and with his mightie winde shall lift vp his hand ouer the riuer, and shall smite him in his seuen streames, and cause men to walke therein with shooes. 16 And there shalbe a path to the remnant of his people, which are left of Asshur, like as it was vnto Israel in the day that he came vp out of the land of Egypt.