War and Peace

Isaiah 11:1–10

Works of art by Unknown English artist, Jenny Holzer, and Edward Hicks
Commentaries by Peter S. Hawkins

Isaiah 11:1–10

Bible passage (Revised Standard Version)

11There shall come forth a shoot from the stump 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 the fear of the Lord.

3And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.

He shall not judge by what his eyes see,

or decide by what his ears hear;

4but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,

and decide 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 he shall slay the wicked.

5Righteousness shall be the girdle of his waist,

and faithfulness the girdle of his loins.

6The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,

and the leopard shall lie down with the kid,

and the calf and the lion and the fatling together,

and a little child shall lead them.

7The cow and the bear shall feed;

their young shall lie down together;

and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

8The sucking child shall play over the hole of the asp,

and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.

9They shall not hurt or destroy

in all my holy mountain;

for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord

as the waters cover the sea.

10 In that day the root of Jesse shall stand as an ensign to the peoples; him shall the nations seek, and his dwellings shall be glorious.