“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.”
The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them—the vision of the peaceable kingdom in which the predatory nature of animals is transformed, and natural enmity is replaced by harmony. The presence of the child as leader suggests innocence and trust rather than force or domination as the basis of social order. This verse sketches the eschatological vision toward which all of Isaiah's prophecy points: a world in which violence and predation give way to peace.