UNROLL
First light on the terraced hills around Bethlehem: stone-walled fields and olive terraces falling into a valley, a few broad old tree stumps on the near slope.

Immanuel

Isaiah 11

Can God bring life out of what looks cut down and finished?

16 verses≈ 4 minBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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Where we are

  1. 1–5Zion on trialJudah’s sin, the mountain raised, the vineyard’s song
  2. 6Holy, holy, holyIsaiah’s call, in the year King Uzziah died (about 740 BC)
  3. 7–12ImmanuelAhaz’s fear, the sign, the Child, the shoot of JesseChapter 11
  4. 13–23The nations judgedBabylon to Tyre: the LORD is Judge of all the earth
  5. 24–27The whole earthThe earth laid waste, and death swallowed up
  6. 28–35Woe and a KingEgypt’s help or the LORD’s, and the King in His beauty
  7. 36–39Hezekiah’s crisisSennacherib, 701 BC: the prayer, the sickness, the envoys
  8. 40–48Comfort My peopleTo the exiles ahead: Cyrus, the idols, the Servant
  9. 49–55The Servant and ZionPierced for our transgressions; Zion restored
  10. 56–66New heavens and earthA house of prayer, the Anointed One, all things new

The Root of Jesse

Isaiah

Then a shoot will spring up from the stump of Jesse,

and a Branch from his roots will bear fruit.

Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture

Isaiah
Isaiah

The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him—

the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,

the Spirit of counsel and strength,

the Spirit of knowledge and fear of the LORD.

And He will delight in the fear of the LORD.

Isaiah

He will not judge by what His eyes see,

and He will not decide by what His ears hear,

but with righteousness He will judge the poor,

and with equity He will decide for the lowly of the earth.

He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth

and slay the wicked with the breath of His lips.

Isaiah
Morning in a town gateway: a plain stone judgment seat with a wide linen sash and a leather belt folded on it, no one seated.

Righteousness will be the belt around His hips,

and faithfulness the sash around His waist.

Question

Quick question

Isaiah names Jesse, not David, in verse 1. Read it again before you answer.

Who was Jesse?

Isaiah
A spring meadow below the hills: a gray wolf lying calm beside a lamb, a leopard resting near a young goat, a calf standing by, and a small boy walking ahead with a switch of grass.

The wolf will live with the lamb,

and the leopard will lie down with the goat;

the calf and young lion and fatling will be together,

and a little child will lead them.

Isaiah
Isaiah

The cow will graze with the bear,

their young will lie down together,

and the lion will eat straw like the ox.

Isaiah

The infant will play by the cobra’s den,

and the toddler will reach into the viper’s nest.

Isaiah

They will neither harm nor destroy on all My holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the sea is full of water.

Isaiah
Dawn on Jerusalem’s height: a tall pole with a plain cloth lifting in the wind, and on the roads below small groups of travelers of many peoples walking toward it.

On that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples. The nations will seek Him, and His place of rest will be glorious.

Isaiah

On that day the Lord will extend His hand a second time to recover the remnant of His people from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.

AssyriaEgyptPathrosCushElamShinarHamathJerusalem

Stylised map · locations approximate

On the map

From the four corners

From every direction the LORD gathers His scattered people home.

Isaiah
Isaiah

He will raise a banner for the nations

and gather the exiles of Israel;

He will collect the scattered of Judah

from the four corners of the earth.

Isaiah

Then the jealousy of Ephraim will depart,

and the adversaries of Judah will be cut off.

Ephraim will no longer envy Judah,

nor will Judah harass Ephraim.

Isaiah

They will swoop down on the slopes of the Philistines to the west;

together they will plunder the sons of the east.

They will lay their hands on Edom and Moab,

and the Ammonites will be subject to them.

Isaiah
Dawn over a broad riverbed nearly dry, split into several shallow channels, a raised road of packed earth crossing it toward far hills, a few travelers small on it.

The LORD will devote to destruction

the gulf of the Sea of Egypt;

with a scorching wind He will sweep His hand

over the Euphrates.

He will split it into seven streams

for men to cross with dry sandals.

There will be a highway for the remnant of His people

who remain from Assyria,

as there was for Israel

when they came up from the land of Egypt.

0:21

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Pray

Pray

Spirit of the LORD, rest on me as You rest on Jesse’s Son. Fill the earth with the knowledge of the LORD, and bring the scattered home by Your highway. Amen.

You’ve experienced

Isaiah 11

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A verse to carry with you

Then a shoot will spring up from the stump of Jesse, and a Branch from his roots will bear fruit.

Isaiah 11:1

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