2. the spirit of the LORD shall rest on him. There is a phonetic link between ruaḥ, “spirit,” and naḥah, “rest,” through the alliteration of the consonant ḥet. The choice of the verb is apt: the spirit descends gently on the ideal ruler to come. This noun is then repeated another three times in an emphatic anaphora.

his very breath. The Hebrew here is literally a verbal noun (“his breathing,” “his smelling”?) that has somewhat perplexed interpreters, but the context indicates a sense like the one proposed in this translation. One should note that this verb reflects the same root as the reiterated word for “spirit.”

3. And not by what his eyes see. This is reminiscent of God’s words to Samuel, which have to do with making the right choice, that is, David, for the kingship: “For man sees with the eyes and the LORD sees with the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). The ideal king breathes the spirit of the LORD, and that, rather than appearances, guides him in judgment.

5. he shall strike the land with the rod of his mouth. The formulation is a pointed oxymoron: striking the land and (in the second verset) killing the wicked are violent acts, but this king will somehow realize these ends necessary to justice through speech, in keeping with the spirit of the LORD that has rested on him.

justice . . . the belt round his waist. This extends the idea of the preceding line because a firmly encircled belt round the waist is what one wears going into battle.

6. And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb. The famous lines that begin with this phrase are a vivid reflection of the fondness for hyperbole manifested in Prophetic poetry. It is unlikely that the prophet literally envisaged a radical transformation of the order of nature in which carnivores would become pacific herbivores, but all this serves as a striking image for an ideal state when all violence will come to an end.

shall feed. The received text reads umeriʾ, “and a fatling,” but two ancient versions provide warrant for yimrʾu, “shall feed,” and the context seems to require a verb.

7. hay. The Hebrew teven generally means “straw” (as in its repeated use for brickmaking in the Exodus story), but since straw is not edible, “hay” would be the plausible English equivalent here.

8. put his hand. The Hebrew verb occurs only here, and so the translation is purely an inference from the context.

10. the root of Jesse that is standing. The apparent sense is “that is still standing,” i.e., that still remains and can be regenerated. But the syntax of the line is a little confusing: in the Hebrew “shall become” immediately follows “And on that day” and thus is distant from its probable predicate, “a banner for nations.”

his resting place. This Hebrew term is often used for a place of settlement that is safe from enemies. Its choice here might be intended to resonate with the spirit of the LORD that “shall rest” on the ideal king.

11. pull in His hand. The Masoretic Text says yosif, “he will again,” but this needs to be followed by an infinitive, and there is none in this line. The translation emends the verb to yeʾesof, for which “hand” would be an idiomatic grammatical object.

from Assyria and Egypt. Although some scholars prefer to see this entire prophecy as a composition of the exilic period, it was Assyria and Egypt’s hostility that were the concern of the Judahites in the later eighth century B.C.E.

12. He shall raise a banner to the nations. Earlier, God was raising a banner to far-off nations to attack Judah, but here the situation is reversed.

the banished of Israel / and the dispersed of Judah. This might be taken as evidence of an exilic setting for this prophecy, but if it were written any time after 721 B.C.E., the prophet could have had in mind the grim fate of the northern kingdom as a signpost for what could happen imminently to the southern kingdom.

13. Ephraim. This is the northern kingdom of Israel.

14. they shall swoop on the flank of the Philistines . . . / they shall plunder the Easterners. The prophet envisages a united Israel and Judah striking enemies to the west, along the Mediterranean coast, and to the east, in Edom and Moab and perhaps even in Mesopotamia.

15. the tongue of Egypt’s sea. This looks like an image for the Red Sea, which is tongue-shaped.

His fierce wind. The first word baʿyam, occurring nowhere else, has defied etymological explanation, but the context suggests a sense like fierceness or power. The same word, ruaḥ, which means “spirit” above, here means “wind,” and the antithesis between a gentle spirit and a fierce devastating wind is pointed.

that one may trod upon it dry-shod. This clause completes a set of allusions to the miracle of the parting of the Sea of Reeds that runs through this and the next verse: the waving of the hand over the waters, the pushing back of the waters by a wind from God, walking where the sea was as on dry land. Here, of course, the drying up of the sea is a blight to the local inhabitants while the seabed becomes a highway for the saving remnant of Israel.

16. that will remain from Assyria. The Hebrew shows prominent sound-play: ʾasher yishaʾer meʾashur.