Isaiah 11:8
in Isaiah 11The infant will play by the cobra’s den, and the toddler will reach into the viper’s nest.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.
KJV
And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den.
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This verse in Isaiah 11
Commentary
3 notes on this verseA commentator
Ambrose of MilanCommentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms, On Psalm 37.4 · Written before 397.
Listen to how the flesh of God becomes an antidote: The Word became flesh; He put His hand into the den of vipers, He expelled the venom, He removed sin; that is, He condemned sin in the flesh.
This site's exposition
The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb
on Isaiah 11:6-8
The wolf dwells with the lamb, the leopard lies down with the kid, and a little child leads the calf and the young lion together, predator and prey reordered under a single small hand rather than removed from the earth. The lion eating straw like the ox reverses the animal kingdom's usual violence rather than merely restraining it, and the sucking child who plays on the hole of the asp extends the peace to the most fearful image available, a serpent's den made safe for an infant's hand. Gill and Barnes both note the images build on each other by degree, moving from large predators toward the smallest and most vulnerable figure in the whole picture, the weaned child.
The record, by era
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
The cockatrice’ den - This is supposed, both by the Targum and by Kimchi, to mean the pupil of this serpent’s eye. “When,” says Kimchi, “he is in the mouth of his den, in an obscure place, then his eyes sparkle exceedingly: the child, seeing this, and supposing it to be a piece of crystal, or precious stone, puts forth his hand to take it. What would be very dangerous at another time, shall be safe in the days of the Messiah; for the serpent will not hurt the child.”
The words behind it
11 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְשִֽׁעֲשַׁ֥ע | veshiasha' | and he will play | H8173 → | 9 times |
| יוֹנֵ֖ק | yonek | a suckling-child | H3243 → | 33 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | over | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| חֻ֣ר | chur | [the] hole of | H2352 → | |
| פָּ֑תֶן | paten | a cobra | H6620 → | |
| וְעַל֙ | veal | and over | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| מְאוּרַ֣ת | meurat | [the] nest of | H3975 → | |
| צִפְעוֹנִ֔י | tzifoni | a viper | H6848 → | 5 times |
| גָּמ֖וּל | gamul | a weaned [child] | H1580 → | 37 times |
| יָד֥וֹ | yado | hand his | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| הָדָֽה׃ | hadah | he will put out | H1911 → |
וְשִֽׁעֲשַׁ֥עand he will play
veshiasha'H8173 →9 times
יוֹנֵ֖קa suckling-child
yonekH3243 →33 times
עַל־over
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
חֻ֣ר[the] hole of
churH2352 →
פָּ֑תֶןa cobra
patenH6620 →
וְעַל֙and over
vealH5921 →5755 times
מְאוּרַ֣ת[the] nest of
meuratH3975 →
צִפְעוֹנִ֔יa viper
tzifoniH6848 →5 times
גָּמ֖וּלa weaned [child]
gamulH1580 →37 times
יָד֥וֹhand his
yadoH3027 →1618 times
הָדָֽה׃he will put out
hadahH1911 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 140:3They sharpen their tongues like snakes; the venom of vipers is on their lips. Selah
it leads to
- Proverbs 23:32
In the end it bites like a snake and stings like a viper.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 58:4
Their venom is like the venom of a snake, like a cobra that shuts its ears,
- Romans 3:13–14
“Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The venom of vipers is on their lips.”
- 2 Corinthians 11:3
I am afraid, however, that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may be led astray from your simple and pure devotion to Christ.
- Jeremiah 9:3
“They bend their tongues like bows; lies prevail over truth in the land. For they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not take Me into account,” declares the LORD.
- Proverbs 23:32
Through
Isaiah 59:5They hatch the eggs of vipers and weave a spider’s web. Whoever eats their eggs will die; crack one open, and a viper is hatched.
it leads to
- Matthew 3:7
But when John saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his place of baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?
- Isaiah 14:29
Do not rejoice, all you Philistines, that the rod that struck you is broken. For a viper will spring from the root of the snake, and a flying serpent from its egg.
- Job 8:14
His confidence is fragile; his security is in a spider’s web.
- Matthew 3:7
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Isaiah
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Isaiah; Ambrose of Milan, Commentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms, On Psalm 37.4 and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament.