Isaiah 11:6–10
The wolf and the lamb; the root of Jesse for the nations
"The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb." In v. 6 the Masoretic Text lists "the calf and the young lion and the fatling (meri)"; the Great Isaiah Scroll reads "the calf and the young lion will graze (yimru)," agreeing with the library's Greek ("brouteront ensemble"). In v. 10 the Greek reads "the one who rises to rule the nations; in him the nations will hope," the form Paul quotes in Romans 15:12.
Manuscript variant: witnesses differ in wording
The family tree
Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.
✓ contains it · ✕ does not · ❝ quotes part of it · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives
- Same line, through lost copies
- Translation
- Uncertain connection
- The oracle as first spoken or written8th–6th century BC (by section; debated)
- Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa-a), Qumran Cave 1c. 125 BC (palaeography; reported)Descends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written
- Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written
Every witness, in order
8th–6th century BC (by section; debated)
The oracle as first spoken or written
No original survives. The oldest copies of Isaiah are the Qumran scrolls: the Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa-a, about 125 BC, nearly complete), 1QIsa-b (1Q8) and some twenty other fragmentary manuscripts.
c. 125 BC (palaeography; reported)
Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa-a), Qumran Cave 1
How the site knows this: Described from a published transcription of the manuscript. Described in the site's own words from Martin Abegg's transcription (ETCBC/CACCHT Dead Sea Scrolls dataset v2.0.5); the transcription itself is not reproduced. Photographs and DJD XXXII not yet checked.
…the calf and the young lion will graze together, and a little child shall lead them
Hebrew numbering: Isaiah 11:6–10. In v. 6 reads yimru, "will graze," where the Masoretic Text has "and the fatling" (agreeing with the Greek); v. 9 reads "on my holy mountain" without "all." Otherwise the differences are of spelling (fuller use of vowel letters) and small grammatical forms.
1st century AD; edition 2010s
Romans 15:12 (Greek New Testament; library: Statistical Restoration text)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: the Greek New Testament editions in the library (Textus Receptus, Byzantine Textform, Statistical Restoration).
Καὶ πάλιν Ἠσαΐας λέγει, “Ἔσται ἡ ῥίζα τοῦ Ἰεσσαί, καὶ ὁ ἀνιστάμενος ἄρχειν ἐθνῶν· ἐπʼ αὐτῷ ἔθνη ἐλπιοῦσιν.”
There shall be the root of Jesse, and the one who rises to rule the nations; in him the nations will hope
Paul quotes the Greek form. KJV: "And again, Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust."
Jerome c. AD 400, from Hebrew; edition 1592
Latin Vulgate (Clementine)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).
Habitabit lupus cum agno, et pardus cum hædo accubabit; vitulus, et leo, et ovis, simul morabuntur, et puer parvulus minabit eos. Vitulus et ursus pascentur, simul requiescent catuli eorum; et leo quasi bos comedet paleas. Et delectabitur infans ab ubere super foramine aspidis; et in caverna reguli qui ablactatus fuerit manum suam mittet. Non nocebunt, et non occident in universo monte sancto meo, quia repleta est terra scientia Domini, sicut aquæ maris operientes. In die illa radix Jesse, qui stat in signum populorum, ipsum gentes deprecabuntur, et erit sepulchrum ejus gloriosum.
Latin numbering: Isaiah 11:6–10. Jerome translated Isaiah from Hebrew (c. AD 400).
AD 1008
Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.
וְגָ֤ר זְאֵב֙ עִם־כֶּ֔בֶשׂ וְנָמֵ֖ר עִם־גְּדִ֣י יִרְבָּ֑ץ וְעֵ֨גֶל וּכְפִ֤יר וּמְרִיא֙ יַחְדָּ֔ו וְנַ֥עַר קָטֹ֖ן נֹהֵ֥ג בָּֽם׃ וּפָרָ֤ה וָדֹב֙ תִּרְעֶ֔ינָה יַחְדָּ֖ו יִרְבְּצ֣וּ יַלְדֵיהֶ֑ן וְאַרְיֵ֖ה כַּבָּקָ֥ר יֹֽאכַל־תֶּֽבֶן׃ וְשִֽׁעֲשַׁ֥ע יוֹנֵ֖ק עַל־חֻ֣ר פָּ֑תֶן וְעַל֙ מְאוּרַ֣ת צִפְעוֹנִ֔י גָּמ֖וּל יָד֥וֹ הָדָֽה׃ לֹֽא־יָרֵ֥עוּ וְלֹֽא־יַשְׁחִ֖יתוּ בְּכָל־הַ֣ר קָדְשִׁ֑י כִּֽי־מָלְאָ֣ה הָאָ֗רֶץ דֵּעָה֙ אֶת־יְהוָ֔ה כַּמַּ֖יִם לַיָּ֥ם מְכַסִּֽים׃ וְהָיָה֙ בַּיּ֣וֹם הַה֔וּא שֹׁ֣רֶשׁ יִשַׁ֗י אֲשֶׁ֤ר עֹמֵד֙ לְנֵ֣ס עַמִּ֔ים אֵלָ֖יו גּוֹיִ֣ם יִדְרֹ֑שׁוּ וְהָיְתָ֥ה מְנֻחָת֖וֹ כָּבֽוֹד׃
The wolf shall live with the lamb… the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them (v. 6)
Hebrew numbering: Isaiah 11:6–10.
1611
King James Bible
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).
The 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. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den. 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. And 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.
Greek translation c. 2nd century BC; French 1872
Greek Isaiah (library: Giguet's French)
How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.
Et le loup broutera avec l’agneau; et la panthère se reposera avec la chèvre; et le bœuf, le taureau et le lion brouteront ensemble; et un petit enfant les conduira. Ensemble brouteront l’ours et la génisse, ensemble seront leurs petits; et le lion se nourrira de paille comme le bœuf; Et l’enfant au berceau mettra sa main dans les trous des aspics, dans le nid même de leurs petits. Et ils ne lui feront aucun mal, et ils ne pourront nuire à aucun des miens sur ma montagne sainte; car l’univers est plein de la connaissance du Seigneur, comme les eaux couvrent la mer. Et en ce jour apparaîtra la racine de Jessé et celui qui s’élèvera pour régner sur les nations, et les nations espéreront en lui, et sa mort fera sa gloire.
Greek (digital file) numbering: Isaiah 11:6–10. Giguet's 1872 French of a printed Greek text (D check only); a C check needs Ziegler's Göttingen Isaiah or Rahlfs–Hanhart.
What changed, and why
Classification: v. 6 = manuscript variant (meri / yimru), with the scroll and Greek agreeing against the Masoretic Text; v. 10 = Greek translation followed by Paul.
V. 9 ("the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea") recurs in Habakkuk 2:14; vv. 6–9 recur in shortened form in 65:25.
The Vulgate's v. 10 "his tomb shall be glorious" (sepulchrum) reads menuchah ("resting place") as burial place; Christian readers applied it to the Holy Sepulchre.
What the evidence shows
- The Great Isaiah Scroll and the Greek read "graze" in 11:6. Transcription; Greek via Giguet.
- Romans 15:12 quotes the Greek of 11:10.
Sources
Related lessons
- Isaiah 11: A Shoot from the Stump of Jesse →"There shall come forth a rod out of the stem (stump) of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots" (11:1). The spirit of the LORD will rest on him: wisdom and understanding, counsel and might, knowledge and the fear of the LORD (v. 2). He will judge the poor with righteousness and strike the earth with the rod of his mouth (vv. 3–5). "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid… and a little child shall lead them"; no harm on God's holy mountain, "for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea" (vv. 6–9). The root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples (v. 10). God will gather the dispersed of Israel and Judah from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath and the islands; Ephraim and Judah will be reconciled; a highway will lead the remnant home as at the exodus (vv. 11–16).
- Investigation: The Great Isaiah Scroll →Found in a cave near the Dead Sea in 1947, the Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa-a) is the only complete book of the Hebrew Bible among the Dead Sea Scrolls, about a thousand years older than the medieval codices behind printed Hebrew Bibles. It agrees with the Masoretic Text in most of its words and differs in thousands of small ways: spelling, grammar, scribal slips, corrections, and a few real variants. This investigation explains what the scroll is, how its differences are classified, and which ones matter.
- Investigation: Jesus and Isaiah →Isaiah is quoted in the Gospels more than any other prophet. This study registers 55 uses that involve Jesus: 20 in Matthew, 14 in Mark, 12 in Luke and 9 in John. For each it records who speaks (Jesus as the Gospel reports him, the narrator, John the Baptist, a heavenly voice, Simeon, or a later scribe), the Isaiah passage and its original setting, the Gospel's Greek wording, whether the use is an explicit quotation, a quotation without formula, an allusion, a proposed allusion, or a later Christian connection, and how that Gospel uses it. Each Gospel is kept separate.