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Isaiah 11 · a question people ask

"The wolf will live with the lamb" (11:6). When will that be?

In the text

The chapter gives no date. It gives the picture: "The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat" (11:6); "The lion will eat straw like the ox" (11:7); "The nursing child will play near a cobra’s hole" (11:8). And it gives the reason: "They will not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea" (11:9). Near the book's end the LORD says much of it again: "The wolf and the lamb will feed together. The lion will eat straw like the ox. Dust will be the serpent’s food. They will not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain" (65:25), after "For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth" (65:17). Christians read when and how these words are kept in more than one way. The notes on Isaiah 65 set out the main readings of that chapter's picture, each resting on its verses; these notes point there and choose none.

The verses

“The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat, the calf, the young lion, and the fattened calf together; and a little child will lead them. The cow and the bear will graze. Their young ones will lie down together. The lion will eat straw like the ox. The nursing child will play near a cobra’s hole, and the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den. They will not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.”
Isaiah 11:6-9 · World English Bible
““For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things will not be remembered, nor come into mind.”
Isaiah 65:17 · World English Bible
“The wolf and the lamb will feed together. The lion will eat straw like the ox. Dust will be the serpent’s food. They will not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain,” says the LORD.”
Isaiah 65:25 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Isaiah 11

Isaiah 11: A shoot from the stock of Jesse

Isaiah names Jesse only twice, both here. A branch grows "out of his roots" (11:1), Jesse's, and the one the nations will seek is "the root of Jesse" (11:10): in Hebrew roots and root are the same word. Paul writes that "Christ has been made a servant of the circumcision for the truth of God" (Romans 15:8), and a few verses later gives the words of 11:10 (Romans 15:12).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions