Old Testament · Prophecy

Isaiah 11

The Stump of Jesse

A shoot will spring from Jesse's stump. A ruler with the Spirit of the Lord. The wolf will lie down with the lamb — and a little child will lead them.

King James Version BSB KJV

1And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:

2And 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;

3And 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:

4But 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.

5And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.

6The 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.

7And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

8And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den.

9They 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.

10And 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.

11And 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.

12And 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.

13The 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.

14But 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.

15And 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.

16And 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.

Understand This

Isaiah 11, explained

What Isaiah 11 is saying

From the stump of Jesse, a Spirit-anointed Branch will arise who judges with righteousness and slays the wicked with the breath of His mouth. His reign ushers in cosmic peace—the wolf with the lamb—and a second exodus as God gathers His scattered people from the nations.

The background behind it

The 'stump of Jesse' presupposes the fall of the Davidic monarchy, pointing to composition or editing during or after the exile. The seven-fold Spirit description shaped later Jewish and Christian pneumatology.

Themes running underneath

Messianic kingship is characterized not by military conquest but by wisdom, justice, and the transformation of the created order. The new exodus motif connects Israel's future to its foundational salvation narrative.

Why it still matters

True leadership is defined by justice for the vulnerable and peace among enemies. The messianic vision challenges every form of governance to measure itself against this standard.

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Scripture text: King James Version — public domain.