1A shoot will come out of the stock of Jesse,
and a branch out of his roots will bear fruit.
2Yahweh’s Spirit will rest on him:
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Yahweh.
3His delight will be in the fear of Yahweh.
He will not judge by the sight of his eyes,
neither decide by the hearing of his ears;
4but he will judge the poor with righteousness,
and decide with equity for the humble of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;
and with the breath of his lips he will kill the wicked.
5Righteousness will be the belt around his waist,
and faithfulness the belt around his waist.
6The 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.
7The cow and the bear will graze.
Their young ones will lie down together.
The lion will eat straw like the ox.
8The nursing child will play near a cobra’s hole,
and the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den.
9They will not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain;
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of Yahweh,
as the waters cover the sea.
10It will happen in that day that the nations will seek the root of Jesse, who stands as a banner of the peoples; and his resting place will be glorious.
11It will happen in that day that the Lord will set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. 12He will set up a banner for the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. 13The envy also of Ephraim will depart, and those who persecute Judah will be cut off. Ephraim won’t envy Judah, and Judah won’t persecute Ephraim. 14They will fly down on the shoulders of the Philistines on the west. Together they will plunder the children of the east. They will extend their power over Edom and Moab, and the children of Ammon will obey them. 15Yahweh will utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his scorching wind he will wave his hand over the River, and will split it into seven streams, and cause men to march over in sandals. 16There will be a highway for the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, like there was for Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.
To the minds of the Hebrew, the day of the Lord was the future day when God would intervene in human history to vindicate Himself and the people of Israel. This concept seems to have appeared during the Conquest when God judged the Canaanites on behalf of His people Israel.
When Amos incorporated the concept of the day of the Lord in his preaching, however, his view was shocking to his people because Amos' understanding of this day was in total contrast to the popular notion of the 8th century B.C. Amos proclaimed that Israel would lament rather than rejoice on that day (Amos 5:16-17) for God was to judge Israel (5:18-20) and the world. On that day, God was going to reject Israel's meaningless religious rituals (5:21-27) and it was to be a day of darkness and woe (6:1-6). The moral corruption of Israel would ultimately usher in Israel's destruction on the day.
Expressing the concept in variant forms such as "by that day" and "on that day," the prophets frequently used this concept in their proclamation of judgment and hope. Zephaniah used it seven times, Isaiah six times, and Joel five times. These are the characteristics of the day of the Lord: 1) It will be a day of judgment (Joel 3:19-21; Amos 5:18) on the enemies of God including Israel and a day of vindication for the faithful; 2) The day of the Lord will be experienced everywhere (Isa 2:12; Zeph 1, 2; Amos 5:18-20); 3) The day of the Lord is near--not far out in the future (Isa 13:6); 4) There will be transformation in nature (Joel 3:18; Amos 9:13), in human relationships (Mic 4:3), and in the relationship between human beings and animals (Isa 11:6-8) which will result in the emergence of a better world; 5) On that day, Jerusalem will be exalted (Zech 14:16); 6) It will be accompanied by cosmic phenomena (Joel 2:28-32; Isa 13:10; 34:4; Ezek 32:7-8); 7) There will be a Davidic ruler (Isa 11:10); 8) There will be a re-gathering of God’s people (Isa 11:11). The New Testament equivalent for this is the second coming of Jesus Christ (2 Thess 2:1) and the day of the Lord Paul mentions in 2:2.