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.
All Commentaries on Isaiah 11:6 Go To Isaiah 11
Jerome
AD 420
“And I will strike for you a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the air and with what crawls on the ground; and I will destroy the bow, the sword and war from the earth; and I will make them sleep in safety.” According to the Septuagint, “And I will arrange for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the air and with what crawls on the ground; and I will destroy war from the earth; and I will make them live in hope.” When all talk of false religion is removed from the people who confess the Lord and, he said, when they call me “my husband,” no longer daring to cry to “Baal” (which means “my idol”), then I will strike for them a covenant and an agreement with the beasts of the field and with the birds of the sky and with what crawls on the ground. Of this moment Isaiah also speaks: “The wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the kid, and the calf, the lion and the lamb will remain together, and a small child will lead them.” The cow and the bear will feed together and relax with their young; and the lion will eat hay like the ox, no longer desiring to eat flesh and blood at all, but enjoying its food with the pure and simple. To enable him to receive Cornelius from the Gentiles, it was revealed and commanded to Peter that he could eat any animal and that he should consider nothing to be unclean when, after being seized with thanksgiving, he later heard: “What God has purified, you must not call common.” At the coming of the Lord our Savior, therefore, after the triumph of his resurrection and ascension to the Father, two walls will be joined at the cornerstone by him who “made both one.” He called her “pitied” who was once called “not pitied,” and he called them his people who was once called “not my people.” And the bow, the sword and war will be destroyed, granting peace to all. For instruments of war are unnecessary when there is no one to wage war. Israel will be joined to the Gentiles, and what was said in Deuteronomy will be fulfilled: “Rejoice, Gentiles, with his people.” For “God is known in Judah, his name is great in Israel.”
