Isaiah 11:15 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And the Lord will utterly destroy the tongue of the Sea of Egypt, and will wave his hand over the River with his scorching breath, and strike it into seven channels, and he will lead people across in sandals.

NIV: The Lord will dry up the gulf of the Egyptian sea; with a scorching wind he will sweep his hand over the Euphrates River. He will break it up into seven streams so that anyone can cross over in sandals.

NASB: And the Lord will utterly destroy The tongue of the Sea of Egypt; And He will wave His hand over the Euphrates River With His scorching wind; And He will strike it into seven streams And make people walk over in dry sandals.

CSB: The Lord will divide the Gulf of Suez. He will wave his hand over the Euphrates with his mighty wind and will split it into seven streams, letting people walk through on foot.

NLT: The Lord will make a dry path through the gulf of the Red Sea. He will wave his hand over the Euphrates River, sending a mighty wind to divide it into seven streams so it can easily be crossed on foot.

KJV: And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dryshod.

NKJV: The Lord will utterly destroy the tongue of the Sea of Egypt; With His mighty wind He will shake His fist over the River, And strike it in the seven streams, And make men cross over dry-shod.

This chapter has been describing the future kingdom of the Messiah. One aspect of this kingdom will be that the Lord will bring together all the scattered people of Israel and Judah (Isaiah 11:11–12). They will be reunited as one people under the Messiah. And as one nation they will defeat all their regional enemies. They will reclaim the Promised Land, and bring lasting peace to the region.

Now the prophet Isaiah backs up a bit to describe how the people will be able to return to the land. He pictures the Sea of Egypt, also known as the Red Sea, and the Euphrates river as obstacles. These two bodies of water stand in the way of the return of some of the Israelites. To give His people safe passage, the Lord will do something similar as when he gave them an escape route out of Egypt during the exodus.

For that reason, the Lord will destroy the "tongue", a bay or gulf, of the Red Sea. In other words, He will cause the water to disappear in some way from that body of water to make it possible to cross over. Next, the Lord will wave His hand over the great Euphrates River and use His scorching hot wind to create seven crossing points over which people can walk across even in sandals.

This is all hard to imagine, but Isaiah's point is not. The same God who freed His people during the exodus will once again free His people. And He will make a way for them to return to the Promised Land. No "impossible" obstacles will stand in His way of keeping this promise to His people.

Isaiah 11:1–16 once more returns to a description of a glorious kingdom to come. This passage was written when Israel's earthly kingdom hung by a thread. That future kingdom will be lead by a descendant of Jesse, David's father. He will rule the earth in the Spirit of the Lord, and restore righteousness, justice, and peace to the earth. All will live in harmony. All the non-Jewish nations will gather under the banner of the Messiah. The Lord will reassemble His Israelite people to their land from the four corners of the earth.

Isaiah describes a future leader who will be raised up from line of Jesse and King David. The leader will be a man and yet more than just a man. He will be powered by the Spirit of the Lord to lead with wisdom, might, and knowledge. He will restore justice and bring peace to the world, ending all conflict. The non-Jewish nations of the earth will come to Him. He will reassemble the scattered Israelites. The reunited nation will have final victory over their enemies under His rule.

Isaiah 11 follows the previous chapter's promise of the Lord's defeat of the Assyrian Empire. Along with the promise that a descendant of King David will one day rule Israel and the world. He will rule in the power of the Spirit of the Lord with wisdom, justice, and righteousness. Conflict will cease, even among the animals. All the non-Jewish nations will gather to the Messiah. The Lord will reassemble His Israelite people to the land from the four corners of the world. Reunited as one nation, they will defeat their enemies and live under the rule of the Lord. Chapter 12 continues this description.

Isaiah is among the most important prophetic books in the entire Bible. The first segment details God's impending judgment against ancient peoples for sin and idolatry (Isaiah 1—35). The second part of Isaiah briefly explains a failed assault on Jerusalem during the rule of Hezekiah (Isaiah 36—39). The final chapters predict Israel's rescue from Babylonian captivity (Isaiah 40—48), the promised Messiah (Isaiah 49—57), and the final glory of Jerusalem and God's people (Isaiah 58—66).