Bible-Reading.com
  1. Sat: Job 13-15
  2. Sun: Genesis 22-25
  3. Mon: Matthew 13-14
Tuesday · Week 5
The Early Prophets

Isaiah 11-13

Week 5 · about 8 min
  1. Wed: Joshua 21-24
  2. Thu: Romans 12-13
  3. Fri: Ezekiel 11-12

Isaiah promises a king from David’s family and a world at peace. Then he begins a series of messages against the nations, starting with Babylon.

A Shoot Grows From a Stump

They 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.

Isaiah 11:9 (KJV)

Chapter 10 ended with a forest chopped down. Chapter 11 opens with a shoot coming out of “the stem of Jesse,” which means a stump. David’s royal family would be cut down to almost nothing, and something living would still grow from it. The Spirit of the LORD rests on this king, and he judges the poor fairly. Then Isaiah paints a picture of peace: wolf and lamb together, a child playing by a snake’s hole. Chapter 12 is a short song: “with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.” In chapter 13 Isaiah looks ahead to the fall of Babylon, which was not yet the great power it would become.

Reflect: What in your life looks like a dead stump that God might still grow something from?

Isaiah 11

1And there shall come forth a shoot out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots shall be fruitful;

2and the Spirit of Jehovah 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 Jehovah.

3And his delight will be in the fear of Jehovah; 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 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 reins, and faithfulness the girdle of his loins.

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 fatted beast together, and a little child shall lead them.

7And the cow and the she-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 adder, and the weaned child shall put forth its hand to the viper's den.

9They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea.

10And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, standing as a banner of the peoples: the nations shall seek it; and his resting-place shall be glory.

11And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to acquire 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 lift up a banner to the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

13And the envy of Ephraim shall depart, and the troublers of Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim will not envy Judah, and Judah will not trouble Ephraim:

14but they shall fly upon the shoulder of the Philistines towards the west; together shall they spoil the sons of the east; they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab, and the children of Ammon shall obey them.

15And Jehovah will utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind will he shake his hand over the river, and will smite it into seven streams, and make men go over dryshod.

16And there shall be a highway for the remnant of his people which will be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day when he went up out of the land of Egypt.

Isaiah 12

1And in that day thou shalt say, Jehovah, I will praise thee; for though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou hast comforted me.

2Behold, God is my salvation: I will trust, and not be afraid; for Jah, Jehovah, is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation.

3And with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.

4And in that day shall ye say, Give ye thanks to Jehovah, call upon his name, declare his deeds among the peoples, make mention that his name is exalted.

5Sing psalms of Jehovah, for he hath done excellent things: this is known in all the earth.

6Cry out and shout, thou inhabitress of Zion; for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.

Isaiah 13

1The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.

2Lift up a banner upon a bare mountain, raise the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may enter the gates of the nobles.

3I have commanded my hallowed ones, I have also called my mighty men for mine anger, them that rejoice in my highness.

4The noise of a multitude on the mountains, as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations assembled together: Jehovah of hosts mustereth the host of the battle.

5They come from a far country, from the end of the heavens -- Jehovah, and the weapons of his indignation -- to destroy the whole land.

6Howl, for the day of Jehovah is at hand; it cometh as destruction from the Almighty.

7Therefore shall all hands be feeble, and every heart of man shall melt,

8and they shall be terrified: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them, they shall writhe as a woman that travaileth; they shall be amazed one at another, their faces shall be as flames.

9Behold, the day of Jehovah cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the earth desolate; and he will destroy the sinners thereof out of it.

10For the stars of the heavens and the constellations thereof shall not give their light; the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.

11And I will punish the world for evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will make the arrogance of the proud to cease, and will bring low the haughtiness of the violent.

12I will make a man more precious than fine gold, even man than the gold of Ophir.

13Therefore I will make the heavens to shake, and the earth shall be removed out of her place, at the wrath of Jehovah of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.

14And it shall be as with a chased roe, and as with a flock that no man gathereth together; every one shall turn to his own people, and every one flee into his own land.

15All that are found shall be thrust through; and every one that is in league with them shall fall by the sword.

16And their infants shall be dashed in pieces before their eyes, their houses shall be rifled, and their women ravished.

17Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, who do not regard silver, and as for gold, they have no delight in it.

18And their bows shall dash the young men to pieces, and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb: their eye shall not spare children.

19And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans' pride, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.

20It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in, even to generation and generation; nor shall Arabian pitch tent there, nor shepherds make fold there.

21But beasts of the desert shall lie there, and their houses shall be full of owls; and ostriches shall dwell there, and wild goats shall dance there.

22And jackals shall cry to one another in their palaces, and wild dogs in the pleasant castles. And her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.

Darby Translation (Darby). Public domain.